The Best Is Yet to Come
by Itachi'spein
Summary: Both Kagome and Ichigo are unhappy in their current relationships and find themselves leaning more towards each other.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is my first fanfic so I hope y'all enjoy it. I was going to wait until I was completely done to publish it, but I really want to know what y'all think about. I will post more when I'm happy with what I've written. Please review and if you have any suggestions feel free to post them. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Bleach. **

The Best is Yet to Come

Prologue

Kagome's P.O.V

The candlelight flickers off of the fine china that we use every night. It glints like beautiful fire, yellow and orange hues the dominant colors. It looks like life, like the life I dreamed of several years ago, and it brings flash backs of happier times. It isn't that I'm unhappy with Sesshomaru, just unhappy with the monotony that comes with being with him, and the fact that I've fallen out of love with him. Every night we would eat off of the fine china in candlelight, before heading to bed and sleeping. The next morning, we would get up and go to class; well, I would go to class. I have tons of them. Going to school to be a doctor is not simple. Well, right now I'm finishing up my core classes at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo. Then I will be attending the Faculty of Medicine for my Undergraduate Degree. I only have one semester left. Sesshomaru's already finished his schooling. He's already finished with college completely. He has every degree he could get with a business major. He owns his own company, and unbeknownst to the people, most of China, Korea, and Vietnam. Now, he's working on owning Japan.

Lately, it feels like I'm just here. Not for him, not for myself, but just to be here. The jewel had brought me back to the present time after the last battle with Naraku. Everyone died in the Feudal Era either during the last battle or of old age in later years. Inuyasha was dragged down to hell with Kikyo. I was in love with Inuyasha, but he was always with love with Kikyo. Now, he can be with her for eternity. Sesshomaru, surprisingly, was the one who held me as I sobbed through the late hours of the night and into the wee hours of the morning. I guess it escalated from there, and we've been living together for almost four years now. And…he's back to his emotionless self that I knew so well in the feudal era. I can't tell what goes on in his head when he looks at me anymore. He's like a reanimated dead man; he only eats, sleeps, and occasionally goes to work. I used to see something in those molten, amber eyes, but now all I see is lifeless, golden stones.

Ichigo's P.O.V.

It all just happened so fast. It's like a nightmare that keeps coming back night after night. I had imagined myself with Rukia many times before, but I always pictured our relationship to be better, not like this. I think she developed a hero complex after I saved her so many times. It made her want to be with me always, as more than just a friend. I was all for the relationship at first, but now I just want to end it; but I can't bring myself to break it off. It might break her heart or cause her to go completely violent and start attacking me. She has a habit of doing that when she's pissed at me... I had imagined our relationship to be less painful and happier. When it started out, we were happier and did stuff together like every normal couple. Well were as normal as we could be with us both being soul reapers and all, but as time went on, Rukia began getting paranoid and obsessive. She's constantly accusing me of sleeping around, which is ridiculous because she's always around me. I can't take this relationship anymore. I have to find away out.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"_One EPSP is usually not strong enough to cause an AP. However, EPSPs may be summed._

_Temporal summation_

_The same presynaptic neuron stimulates the postsynaptic neuron multiple times in a brief period. The depolarization resulting from the combination of all the EPSPs may be able to cause an AP._

_Spatial summation_

_Multiple neurons all stimulate a postsynaptic neuron resulting in a combination_"

Kagome listened to the teacher drone on and on, trying her best to scribble down every word that he spoke. Her eyes never lifted from her paper, because she knew she would loose track. Medical school wasn't easy, and it made Kagome wonder why she even chose this profession. _'To stop depending on Sesshomaru,'_ she supplied in her mind.

"That's all for today, class. You are dismissed," the teacher said in his usual monotony.

Kagome sighed and heaved herself from her seat. She gathered her notebooks, textbooks, and papers and shoved them all into her backpack. Shouldering it, she trailed from the classroom.

"Higurashi-san, may I speak with you for a moment?"

The young woman sighed silently, but nonetheless headed for the teacher. "Yes, Sensei," she said.

"As you know, this is one of the hardest classes in this course. How do you feel you are doing?"

"I'm doing pretty average, I think. It's hard to understand, but I'm managing," Kagome explained thoughtfully.

"I would have to say that you are correct in your assumption. As of two weeks ago, you have reached the top five within the class. As of four days ago, you have had a 104 in this class. No one has ever accomplished this before."

"I did? I mean…I did?" Kagome stood in silence for a moment.

"I thought it would be wise for you to know of your accomplishments, Higurashi-san. You may go."

"Yes, Sensei," she said quietly.

Trudging to her next class, Kagome pondered her grade. _'I guess all of those hours I spent studying instead of gallivanting around the city with Rangiku and her friends have paid off,'_ she thought. As Kagome walked to her next class, she heard her phone ringing.

Kagome's concentration broke, and she answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kagome; it's Rangiku. Are you busy?"

"No, I'm just walking to my next class. What's up?"

"Nothing; Toshiro's at work and I'm finished with all my class work. Bored, as usual. Please, tell me your day is more exciting. I'm dying for some juicy gossip."

"Sorry, no gossip, but I did just find out I have a 104 in Anatomy and Physiology. I guess not going clubbing with you to stay home and study really paid off," Kagome said.

"Wow, Kagome! You really are impressive! I wish I had the motivation you do, but I just can't stay away from the clubs."

"You have it easier than I do, Rangiku. You're studying to be a fashion designer at Bunka Fukusou Gakuin. Being a pre-med student is lot more work and time consuming."

"True, I do have it easier. I don't think I could handle all the work and control it takes to be a doctor. Fashion is just so much more fun. I don't see how you do all that."

"I guess I'm just more focused than you." As Kagome spoke, she suddenly realized that she might be late for her next class. She looked at her watch to see she only had five minutes to get across campus. "I'm going to be late for class, and I have to get all the way across campus in five minutes. I have to go. I'll see you tonight for movie night, 'kay?"

"You know it."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Kagome hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket as she sped off down the hallway at a fast jog. Her steps faltered a bit as she looked down at her watch - four minutes left - but she broke into a run anyway. The young woman tripped a bit on a door threshold as she looked down again - three minutes. She came to a sudden stop as she rammed into something solid and quite a bit taller than her. She "eep"ed as her behind met the ground fiercely. Kagome looked at her watch again - two minutes. _'I still have time!'_ she thought desperately. When she looked up, she didn't expect a hand to be there.

"Well, are you going to take it or sit there?" asked the orange haired boy in front of her.

"What?" Kagome uttered as she tried to get her bearings. "Oh, right; Thank you," she said as she grabbed his hand to be pulled up.

"Why were you in such a rush?" asked the boy.

"I was trying to get to class on time. Oh, no; class!" Kagome exclaimed in realization. "I have to get going. Excuse me." Before the boy could say anymore, Kagome ran past him and into her classroom with less than a minute to spare.

"What a strange girl," the boy muttered to himself before walking into the same classroom.

Kagome had made it to her American Culture class on time. Even though she was taking classes that focused on Medicine, she still needed one last elective and American Culture seemed to be the least stressful. Nothing exciting happened in class. It was the usual power-point lecture and the homework assignment. _'Ugh…are we ever going to do anything fun. Sometimes the modern world is just too boring compared to what I did in the feudal era,'_ Kagome thought to herself.

When class finally ended, Kagome was relieved to be able to go home and relax. She was still meeting Rangiku later for a movie, but some quiet time before was greatly needed. Sesshomaru would be home, but she wasn't worried. They barely talked anymore. Both of them could be at home and to Kagome, it was the same as being alone. _'Lets see… It's three o'clock now and I'm meeting Rangiku at seven for the movie. That's four hours to relax. I can finally take that long, hot bubble-bath I promised myself I'd do last week when I get home.' _

Kagome climbed into the expensive car that Sesshomaru had bought her for her last birthday and drove home. She and Sesshomaru lived in a pent-house apartment in Tokyo, not far from campus. The apartment was on the twentieth floor and was the only apartment on that floor. It consisted of four bedrooms, three baths, kitchen, sitting room, dining room, and a training room. Despite sword fighting being a lost art in combat, Sesshomaru still practiced everyday to keep his skills sharp. One never knows when one is going to need them. Even in the modern world, they could come in handy.

As Kagome made her way through the apartment, she threw her stuff on the couch and began to make her clothes more comfortable to wear. Sesshomaru insisted she look dignified when going to school, so Kagome wore business attire to school. In order to not draw so much attention to herself, Kagome wore her hair down, instead of in a bun as Sesshomaru insisted. As not to make Sesshomaru angry, Kagome would leave the apartment in the morning with her hair in a bun and would take it down when she got to school. She would do the same with her clothes, but she didn't have enough room in her bag for a spare change of clothes. She figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if she wore business attire to school. She's seen the world almost come to an end and it did not involve her wardrobe.

Once Kagome was comfortable in her clothes, she walked to the training room to see if Sesshomaru was there. She didn't say a word as she watched him slice away at the various dummies around the room. She knew better than to surprise him when he's training. The last time she tried to talk to him while training, he had almost sliced her head off. It was thanks to Kagome's fighting abilities that she obtained in the feudal era that saved her life. She was able to dodge the blade and back off quickly. It was too narrow of an escape for her to attempt a conversation with him again while he's training. So everyday when she comes home, she watches Sesshomaru from the door. Every-now-and-then, Kagome can't help but gawk at Sesshomaru's sword fighting. No matter how many times she watches him, it doesn't get old. The movements are completely fluid and smooth. It was like watching an intricate dance, especially when he was fighting against someone else. That, however, doesn't happen anymore. There just aren't any enemies around, at least none of the fighting kind. Sesshomaru has several enemies in the business world. What else can a person expect when they own several different countries?

Kagome just stared and watched Sesshomaru without realizing time was still moving forward. When she watched him, it was as if time stood still. The same thing happened when she'd watch Inuyasha fight or train. Sometimes, this got her into trouble during battles. She would be completely immersed in what she was watching and wouldn't pay attention to her surroundings. It was thanks to her friends, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, and Kirara that she was saved every time. One of them always had her back. Of course, this didn't happen every time a battle occurred. Kagome became very proficient in archery during her time in the feudal era. She is the incarnation of Priestess Kikyo, who was also proficient in archery after all. When it came down to it, Kagome could hold her own in a fight. As Kagome watched Sesshomaru train, she began to relive memories from the feudal era. Seven years have passed since then.

'_Sesshomaru__ never misses a day of training,'_ thought Kagome. _'He doesn't even have to fight enemies anymore, and yet everyday, for three hours, he trains. I haven't picked up my bow in years. Maybe I should start training again. Who am I kidding? I don't have time to train. I barely have time for myself.'_

Thinking about not having time for herself, Kagome suddenly remembered she was going to take a bubble bath before her outing with Rangiku. She looked at her watch and realized it was 4:20. She had been watching Sesshomaru for almost an hour. Without further delay, Kagome made her way to the master bath to finally indulge in a little alone time.

Kagome lit various candles around the room and turned off the lights after getting her bath ready. She then turned on some music and sank into the tub with a contented sigh. The warmth of the water and the feel of the bubbles on her skin made her body melt. She had been experiencing some back pain from carrying her backpack around everywhere, so the warm water made her back muscles relax for once. Kagome realized she could stay in the bathtub for hours and not care. Since she had plans tonight, Kagome set an alarm on her phone so she wouldn't spend hours in the bathtub and miss her movie with Rangiku. She gave herself an hour-and-a-half of leisure time. Normally a person wouldn't spend so much time in a bathtub, especially since the water doesn't stay warm the whole time. Luckily for Kagome, she has a heated bathtub, so the water stays warm for the entire time a person stays in the tub. It's one of the perks of having a rich boyfriend.

At six o'clock, Kagome's alarm went off and she was brought back to reality with a jolt. She had let her mind wander, and found herself once again in the feudal era with her friends. This time Inuyasha was the focus. For the past week or so, Kagome had found herself thinking about him more and more. It's been seven years since he was dragged to hell with Kikyo, but Kagome still loved him, and always would. He was her first love, but she was not his. Inuyasha always pined for Kikyo, and in the end he chose her. It broke Kagome's heart and she couldn't stay in the feudal era anymore. After everything was back to normal there, she left Sango and Miroku to go back to Modern Era with the help of the Shikon no Tama or the Jewel of Four Souls. Sadly, both Shippo, and Kirara died in the last battle. They were demons and wouldn't be able to travel through the well. Only humans, and half-demons like Inuyasha could travel through the well.

Kagome climbed out of the bathtub and put her robe on. She blew out all the candles and turned off the music before making her way to her room to change. She had an hour to get ready and to get to Rangiku's. "Plenty of time," she said out loud to a seemingly empty room.

"Plenty of time for what?" said a deep monotone voice from the doorway. At hearing someone speak, Kagome jumped from being startled. She turned around and saw Sesshomaru standing in the doorway looking at her with no emotion at all, sweat glistening on his skin. His purple facial tattoos and the ones on his wrists shined from the light reflecting off the sweat. Even after working out for hours, Sesshomaru still looked handsome and sexy.

'_I wonder what he's thinking. Why can't he show emotion like he used to? Like Inuyasha did. I could always tell what he was thinking.'_

"I'm going to Rangiku's to watch a movie. I need to be there by seven."

"I see," was all Sesshomaru said. Kagome still loved Sesshomaru despite their relationship being in a rut, so she decided to try and make something happen despite the time.

"I don't have to go if you don't want me too," said Kagome seductively as she walked towards Sesshomaru in just her robe, which she left open to reveal she was wearing nothing underneath. Sesshomaru didn't move, but continued to stare at her. Kagome could see his cheeks blush slightly at the sight of her naked body shining from the water droplets on her skin. "I could just stay home with you, Sesshy. I'm sure you and I could think of something for us to do together." Kagome moved close to Sesshomaru as she said this and pressed her slim toned body against his and slowly moved her finger up and down his chest. Kagome could feel Sesshomaru's body shake as she began to move her hands beneath his shirt. It was beginning to become harder for him to resist her. Finally, he gave in as her lips touched his.

In an instant, both he and Kagome where on the bed in an intense moment of passion, with their bodies intertwining in the sheets. Neither could remember the last time they were together like this.

Somewhere along the way, their relationship had hit a rut, both emotionally and physically, but all of that was forgotten. They needed this togetherness. They didn't know how much they needed it until now.

Kagome's fingers ran through Sesshomaru's long silver hair and then followed the crescent moon shaped tattoo on his forehead along with the two claw-like tattoos on each cheek. They lay next to each other and looked into each other's eyes. Kagome's eyes were filled with love and passion, but once again as all the passion went away all Kagome could see in Sesshomaru's eyes were the golden stones. Any passion or emotion he had a moment ago was gone and Kagome knew it wasn't coming back. She just didn't know if it was gone forever. As the two lovers lay in bed, the sound of an alarm went off from Sesshomaru's phone. Without saying a word, Sesshomaru got up and wrapped a towel around his waist.

"Where are you going?" asked Kagome with slight disappointment in his leaving.

"I have a meeting with the Ootori Group1. I plan on taking over all of their Medical Establishments. I need to shower and get ready."

"Oh, I see. When will you be back?"

"I don't know. Why does it even matter? Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes I do, but Rangiku would understand after I explained my absence to her."

"There is no reason for you to stay here alone if you have plans, Kagome. You should see your friends. After all, you don't have many now that my foolish half-brother Inuyasha went to hell with that Priestess and the others died centuries ago." After saying this, Sesshomaru left the room and went into the master bath. Kagome waited until she heard the sound of the water hitting the shower before she burst into tears.

'_How can he be so cold after what we did?'_ Before Kagome could think on it any longer her phone rang and broke her concentration.

"Oh, hey, Rangiku. I'm so sorry I'm late. I'll be over there soon." Kagome tried to hold back the sobs as best she could, but nothing could escape Rangiku's notice.

"Kagome, what happened? What did he do?"

"Why do you always think it's something he did?"

"Because, it usually is."

"I'll explain it when I get to your apartment, okay?"

"Alright, just hurry over here. I want to know soon if I have to kick his ass."

"Rangiku, don't try and kick his ass. It won't go over very well. I don't want you to get hurt."

"You don't want me to get hurt? It's nice to know you believe in my abilities, Kagome. You really are a true friend," Rangiku says sarcastically as only she can.

"You know I'm just looking out for you. You haven't seen Sesshomaru fight. You don't know how merciless he can be."

"I know, I know. You've told me that every time we have this conversation. I'm just looking out for you. You _are_ my best friend, after all. Though, I don't know how much longer that will last if you don't get over here."

"Okay, I get it. I'm getting off the phone now so I can get dressed and leave. Goodbye; Rangiku."

"Finally! See you in a few, Kags." Both girls hang up their phone and Kagome pulls herself together in order to get dressed. She doesn't bother trying to look cute. There's no point, and she's not in the mood to try to impress anybody. Right now, all she wants to do is curl up in bed and cry, but she has to go to Rangiku's. If there is anyone who can make her feel better, it's Rangiku Matsumoto.

After getting dressed into a pair of jeans and graphic tee, Kagome grabbed her beige Prada purse with black trim and left the apartment in the elevator. Rangiku only lived a few blocks away so Kagome didn't bother taking her car and walked. The walk gave her time to think and assess her relationship. She knew she would have to answer questions about her relationship from Rangiku. Kagome walked along the streets and admired the cherry blossoms that were so prominent in Japan. Their light pink leaves fell to the ground in the wind and made the world seem peaceful as the wind blew them away before they could reach their destination.

'_I really don't want to have this conversation again with Rangiku, but I know I can't avoid it.'_ Kagome thought to herself. _'I won't be able to avoid it this time. _Kagome's thoughts stayed focused on her and Sesshomaru's relationship, and after a ten-minute walk she found herself at Rangiku's apartment building. It's nowhere near as nice as hers but Kagome preferred it much more. It was just big enough for Rangiku and her boyfriend Toshiro, with even enough room for a guest. Before heading up to the apartment Kagome took a deep breath and braced herself for the impending interrogation.

1 The Ootori Group is from the Anime Ouran High School Host Club.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N-Spoiler alert: The Bleach portion of this story is based off the idea that Ichigo did not loose his Shinigami powers and the chapters in the Manga past the battle wit Aizen has not happened. Also I'm horrible at grammar so I apologize for the many mistakes there may be. I hope you enjoy. :D**

Chapter 2

The grain of the wood was the most interesting thing in sight as Ichigo mumbled to himself at the bar. The bartender, an old friend of Ichigo's, began to wonder what was wrong. Ichigo had been at the bar every night this past week and several more in the past two months drinking himself into blissful oblivion. It had started out just one night a week, but then it became more often and now it was every night and sometimes during the day as well.

"What's with you? You've been sitting there depressed for days now," the redhead remarked snidely.

Ichigo looked up lazily with the expression of depression hovering over him. "What do you care, Renji?"

"What do you mean, what do I care? We're friends aren't we? In the technical term, at least," Renji said coming to stand by him on the opposite side of the bar. "Friends have a right to know what's bothering their friends, don't they?"

"If you must know, my anniversary is this weekend," Ichigo snapped, annoyed.

"That's nothing to be depressed about," Renji said.

"When you're me, it is," Ichigo muttered.

"So, you don't like Rukia anymore, huh?"

"I used to think I loved her, but now it's hell being near her. I don't know what's wrong or when it even started going down hill."

"So, break it off and quit whining about it or fix it," Renji advised.

"It's not that simple and you know that better than anyone." the orange-haired man muttered.

"Since it's 'not that simple,' you should think about it in class," the redhead said looking at the clock.

"Class? Oh, damn! I have class today," Ichigo exclaimed. He threw a 1000-yen note onto the bar for his two beers and jetted from the establishment.

Rengi took the 1000 yen-note off the bar as he watched Ichigo rush out the door. "What, no tip?" he yelled out after Ichigo, but the question fell on deaf ears. "Some friend." said Rengi as he put the money in the register and went back to cleaning the bar.

Ichigo ran down the sidewalk toward the university. His book bag beat painfully against his side as it hung from his shoulder. _'If I don't hurry up, I'll be late and get thrown out of class!'_ Ichigo thought as he tried to run faster. He was jumping benches and weaving through people, and that slowed him down quite a bit.

"Hey, Ichigo! Where have you been? We were supposed to meet here ten minutes ago!" Rukia yelled from a just-emptied classroom.

Ichigo stopped mid-stride and did a complete about face. "What are you talking about, Rukia?" he asked in confusion.

"We were going to meet here before you went to class," she repeated.

"When did we agree to that?" he asked as he walked closer, swaying a bit.

"You're drunk again, aren't you?" Rukia shrieked. "Did you go back to that stupid bar?"

"So what if I went back to the bar? I like going there; it gives me time to think and some much needed quite time," retaliated Ichigo.

"Quiet time? You can get quiet time back at the apartment!"

"Not with you there nagging at me all the time!"

"I don't nag at you! I just wonder where you've been all the time!"

"I'm never anywhere to wonder! You're always wherever I am, nagging about wherever I've been!" Ichigo looked at his watch. He had three minutes to get halfway across campus. "I've got to go," he said and took off running again.

The halls were nearly clear, and everyone gave him a path if they were in the way. Finally, Ichigo made it to the classroom with two minutes to spare. He gasped for breath as he stopped for a moment in front of the classroom door.

"I made -oof!" he grunted as something rammed into him.

The orange-haired man stumbled, but was able to catch himself on the wall. Ichigo looked down and noticed a dark-haired young woman sitting on the ground awkwardly. She was staring at her watch in fascinated horror. Ichigo extended a hand to help her, but raised an eyebrow when she kept staring at her watch with a crestfallen expression. Ichigo wondered in amazement at how focused she was on her watch that he forgot about getting to class and just stood there with his hand extended ready to help her up.

"Well, are you going to take it or sit there?" asked Ichigo slightly annoyed at the girl's obliviousness.

"What?" the brunette uttered as she tried to get her bearings. "Oh, right; Thank you," she said as she grabbed Ichigo's hand to be pulled up.

"Why were you in such a rush?" he asked

"I was trying to get to class on time. Oh, no; class!" the girl exclaimed in realization. "I have to get going. Excuse me." Before Ichigo could say anymore, she ran past him and into her classroom with less than a minute to spare.

"What a strange girl," he muttered to himself before walking into the same classroom.

Ichigo quickly found a place to sit down before the professor started taking role. Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about the girl he just met in the hall way and paid close attention to the names being called on the role.

"Gotou, Asami." announced the professor.

"Here." confirmed Asami in the front row.

"Hayashi, Tatsuya?"

"Present." he responded from the back.

Ichigo looked at every person who talked hoping she would be the one to answer. Finally Ichigo found her.

"Higurashi, Kagome?"

"Here."

'_Higurashi, Kagome.'_ Ichigo made sure he wasn't going to forget her name and wrote it in his notebook. The teacher continued to call role and Ichigo noticed Kagome not looking up or even looking around to see where he was. He was slightly disappointed, but realized she probably didn't even know they were in the same class since she went in first. He would have to find a way for them to meet again. He just didn't know how.

Ichigo found himself unable to get Kagome off his mind the entire class time. He didn't understand why he was so fascinated with her. Unable to pay attention, Ichigo found time passing by much quicker than normal. Before he knew it class was over and Kagome was nowhere to be found. Unable to talk to her, Ichigo made his way through campus to find Rukia.

He didn't have to wander around campus for long. He found her at the quad in the center of campus sitting on a huge boulder. As soon as she saw Ichigo she jumped down and ran over to him and kicked him in the chest. Ichigo staggered from the force but didn't fall backwards. He was used to this kind of punishment from Rukia and was able to take it in stride.

"What the hell was that for?" Ichigo asked very annoyed and angry.

"For not meeting me like you said you were going to and for being drunk again. You know I don't like you drinking. Especially during the day." Rukia yelled at the top of her lungs. People around the quad started staring at the couple. This much expression of emotion was not something they were used to and found it very intriguing.

"Why does it even matter? I don't want to talk about this here. I'm heading back to the apartment." Ichigo then walked off and didn't bother waiting for a reply from Rukia. He knew he was going to get it later, but he didn't care. He was to frustrated to deal with their relationship and needed more time alone to think about it. If Rukia did what he believed she would, he would have some time to himself back at the apartment.

Ichigo caught the bus and arrived at his apartment complex about twenty minutes from campus. He walked up three flights of stairs until he reached his apartment and walked in and sighed contently at the welcomed silence. Ichigo threw his stuff on the couch and walked to the kitchen where he opened the fridge and grabbed a drink-a nonalcoholic drink to his displeasure. _'I should've gone to the bar instead.'_ Ichigo thought to himself. He found himself drinking a lot more lately. He wasn't sure if it was because of Rukia or just the stress from school and being a soul reaper. Hollows weren't as prominent in Tokyo as Ichigo's hometown of Karakura, but every now and then he would have a day where it seemed like there were Hollows every five minutes.

Ichigo grabbed his drink, sat on the couch and turned on the TV. It wasn't long before his alone time was interrupted. During a commercial Ichigo sensed a shift in the air pressure. "A Hollow." Ichigo said out loud. In seconds he set his drink down and used his Substitute Soul Reaper Badge to separate his spirit body from his real one. His real body laid on the floor unmoving as his spirit body rushed out the window to take care of the awaiting Hollow.

The streets of Tokyo went on as normal underneath Ichigo as he ran across the tops of buildings. Only people with spirit energy could sense or see a Hollow and him for that matter. He wasn't sure how many people could see them like him, but he knew a few people in the area who did, Rukia being one of them. As Ichigo got closer to the Hollow it's cries became louder. Ichigo picked up his pace and eventually found himself on a playground. The playground seemed deserted as the swings swayed in the wind and the sound of a metal merry-go-round squeaking filled the silence in between the cries of an invisible Hollow.

As soon as Ichigo set foot on the playground a Shrieker Hollow appeared before him and jumped at him. It's frog like body allowed the Hollow to jump high in the air and his bat like wings allowed him to fly and hover in the air. Ichigo jumped into the air at the same time as the Shrieker did and took his Zanpakuto in both hands and sliced down through the Shrieker's skull, purifying him. Once the blade cut through the Hollow it dissolved into the air and peace was restored to the lonely playground.

"Well that was a weak one." Ichigo said out loud to himself slightly disappointed at how easy it was. His Zanpakuto rested on his shoulder. The blade stretched the length of his body with a wide curved blade similar to a Katana's shape but with no guard and bandages on the hilt. "I haven't had a real fight in a while. Nothings happened in my world or in the Soul Society since we defeated Aizen. Life has gotten pretty uneventful since then." Ichigo stood a moment and reminisced of his time in the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo before he put his Zanpakuto back on his back and was once again covered in bandages as a sheath. Ichigo then jumped back onto the roof of a surrounding building and headed back to his apartment.

The surrounding streets of Tokyo remained unchanged with everyone still moving along as if a Hollow had not just terrorized a playground. Ichigo moved through the top of the city at a leisurely pace completely invisible to the people below. He looked out to the horizon and noticed the sun was starting to set. It'd be nearly dark by five o'clock. _'The sunset always looks better during winter than the summer.'_ thought Ichigo. Finally Ichigo reached his apartment and entered through the window he jumped out of into what he thought was an empty apartment.

"I see you had no problem getting rid of that Hollow, Ichigo," said a voice from the side of the room.

"What are you doubting my abilities now along with my faithfulness, Rukia? So how's Orihime doing?" Replied Ichigo as he fused his spiritual body with his real body by the couch.

"Why do you ask?" said Rukia as she walked towards Ichigo ignoring his first comment.

"Because that's usually where you go after we fight."

"At least it's better than going to that stupid bar and getting completely wasted." Rukia retaliated annoyed.

"Agh! Do you always have to bring that up?"

"Why shouldn't I? It's all you ever do when you're not at school or fighting Hollows. I bet you pick up random girls there too."

"No it's not and I haven't slept with anybody else but you. I'm here now aren't I? I came here after our fight earlier instead of the bar." Ichigo and Rukia stood just a few inches apart from each other by this point. Ichigo stood looking down at Rukia and Rukia looking up at him, both with frustration and annoyance in their faces. They didn't seem to have much more to say and just stood staring at each other. Both determined not to break down and look away. However, their anger didn't allow them to sustain it for very long and after a few minutes they went off and did their own thing in a huff. Ichigo sat in front of the TV again and Rukia went into the bedroom and slammed the door, still angry from before.

The slamming of the door didn't go unnoticed by Ichigo. He knew she was still angry and he'd have to go in there and try and fix it or suffer the consequences. Ichigo contemplated on how long he should wait before he went into the bedroom to make things right. He figured ten minutes would be the maximum wait since she already talked to Orihime about their problems. If he waited any longer than that Rukia would just chew him out again for not trying to fix it. This meant by the end of the night Ichigo would be on the floor in pain from the beating Rukia would give him.

In order to avoid the beating, Ichigo got off the couch and went into the bedroom to calm Rukia down.

Rukia looked up from her pile of laundry on the bed and stared back at Ichigo with contempt as he leaned against the bedroom door. _'Damn, this one's going to be difficult to fix.'_ Ichigo thought to himself.

Rukia went back to folding clothes. "You're not going to be able to smooth talk your way out of this one, Ichigo."

"Who said it'd be smooth."

"That's right. Start the apology by being a smartass."

"Apology? I didn't come in here to apologize."

"Then why did you come in here? I'm sure whatever's on TV is much more fascinating than watching me fold clothes."

"I came in here to talk about your issues with me going to the bar." Ichigo replied as he walked over to her and took the shirt out of her hand and set it down on the bed.

"What is there to talk about? You go there and spend thousands of yen on beer and come home drunk out of your mind and pass out on the bed."

"That's the obvious reason. Now give me the real one?"

"Real one?"

"Yeah, real one? The underlying reason why you hate that I'm at the bar. It's more than me being drunk and spending to much money on alcohol."

Rukia didn't answer him. She went back to folding clothes. She wanted him to fix this, but she wanted him to figure out why she was pissed on his own.

"Answer me Rukia. I can't fix this unless I know what's wrong. You know I can't figure these things out on my own, no matter how much you want me too."

'_Damn. He's right.' _thought Rukia to herself in annoyance.

"Fine." began Rukia as she forcefully but the pants she was folding on the bed. "You want to know the reason? I'll tell you. It's because you're never home and when you are you're to drunk to talk to me or pay attention to me. We haven't been out on a date in two months. We haven't even had sex in weeks. I'm frustrated, Ichigo. I want to be with you, but you don't seem to want to be with me. Since you don't want to be, you must getting some on the side from girls you meet at the bar or you'd be more frustrated than I am." Rukia picked up the pile of dirty clothes on the floor and put them in a basket and headed to the laundry room not waiting to get a reply from Ichigo, who stood dumb struck not knowing what to say.

'_Has it really been that long since we had sex?' _Ichigo wondered to himself. _'No wonder she's so pissed at me all the time.'_ Ichigo noticed Rukia was no longer in room and went off to find her while talking to himself out loud. "Well there's only one way to fix that. "Hey Rukia. Where'd you go?"

Rukia didn't answer to Ichigo's call but he still found her in the laundry room a minute later. She was in no mood to hear his response but knew there was no way out of hearing it.

"Okay so the lack of sex is the problem. Then lets fix it right now. Come on, we'll put the clothes on the floor and break this bed in the proper way." Ichigo proposed with a wink at the end.

Rukia finished putting the clothes in the wash and turned to Ichigo slowly with her right hand on her right hip, obviously not happy with his answer.

"So sex is how you're going to fix this?"

"Well…yeah. You said you were frustrated that we haven't had sex in so long. Isn't this what you want?" replied a confused Ichigo.

"Hahahahaha." **Smack**. Rukia slapped Ichigo across the face before continuing her tirade of why sex is not the right answer. "One night is not going to fix this Ichigo. It's going to take several nights, and I don't mean several nights of just sex. There needs to be romance, something that proves you want more from me. I want more than just sex."

Ichigo stood listening to her while rubbing his face where a red handprint appeared indicating where he was hit. "Alright. I get the message. It'll take more than sex to fix this."

"Good." said Rukia as she grabbed a blanket and a pillow from the linen shelf by the washer. "Here. You'll need this."

"What is this for?"

"The couch. You're best shot is our anniversary this weekend. Don't mess it up or you'll be sleeping on the couch for longer than a few nights." Rukia walked out of the room with a smirk on her face and left Ichigo wishing he had kept his mouth shut and thought about his answer longer than the thirty seconds he gave it.


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait, but it took a few drafts to get it perfect. I hope you enjoy and reviews will be greatly appreciated. :D**

Kagome wished she could prolong the inevitable conversation about her relationship as she climbed the three flights of stairs to Rangiku's apartment. The dark hallway leading to the apartment made Kagome uneasy as she walked to the end. _'When is the super going to fix these lights and the elevator? They've been out for two weeks,'_ Kagome thought to herself.

When Kagome reached the door, she knocked quietly, secretly hoping no one would be there so she could go back home and cry herself to sleep. However, her hope was short lived. Not even five seconds after she knocked, an orange haired woman with gigantic boobs opened the door with the enthusiasm of a kid going to a candy store. If Kagome wasn't so used to this welcome she would have been taken aback and scared of the possibly insane woman standing in front of her with her arms outstretched for a hug.

"KAGS!" shouted the very excited woman at the door.

"Hey, Rangiku; Sorry, I'm so late," replied a sullen Kagome with her left hand rubbing the back of her head and a forced smile on her lips.

"Don't look so glum, Kagome. We'll figure this mess out and then everything will be okay. Don't worry about being late. You're here now and you made it just in time to still be my best friend. One more minute and I would've been forced to let you go," replied Rangiku in playful tone of voice before giving Kagome a loving hug and letting her inside.

"So, what movie are we watching tonight? Please tell me it's not a romantic comedy where it all works out in the end," asked Kagome as she made her way to the couch.

"Oh no, of course not; this one is an assassin movie where a woman kicks ass. It's called _Azumi_. The love story isn't until the second one, but it's not as good as the first one."

"Sounds like the perfect movie." Kagome smiled genuinely as she sat down on the couch ready to be distracted from her relationship problems. Rangiku set everything up and went into the kitchen briefly to get the popcorn, drinks, and chocolate syrup. With popcorn in hand, she sat down on the couch next to Kagome and started the movie.

As Azumi was slicing through some bad guys on the screen, Kagome noticed something odd on the coffee table in front of her. "Um Rangiku?" she asked. "What's the chocolate syrup for?"

"The popcorn, of course," answered Rangiku as if it should be obvious. Kagome looked at her with a questioning look, as if she was insane. "What? Haven't you ever had chocolate popcorn?"

"No, I haven't, and I don't plan on it. How could that taste good?"

"I don't know, but it tastes wonderful. My friend, Orihime, got me eating it."

"Her tastes must be as weird as yours if she likes that."

"Oh, come on Kagome, try it." Rangiku grabbed a piece of popcorn and put chocolate syrup on it and proceeded to try and shove it into Kagome's mouth. Kagome naturally tried to keep her from succeeding. Before long both girls were wrestling on the couch and were screaming or repeating, "Come on, try it." This went on until the fun was interrupted by someone shouting at them.

"Matsumoto! What is all of this noise for?" shouted an irritated looking child with white spiky slightly slicked back hair.

"Huh?" said both girls simultaneously.

"Oh, nothing; just eating some popcorn and watching a movie," replied Rangiku in her usual chipper tone.

"That's not what it looks like to me. It looks like you're trying to force feed Kagome. Now, I suggest you knock it off lieutenant. You're a seated officer in Squad Ten of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad. You are not a child, so stop acting like it." Rangiku let go of Kagome and got off the couch. At first she looked sorry, but then a mischievous smile crossed her face.

"Toshi's cranky, Kagome. I think we need to cheer him up. Don't you?"

"Nooooo way. You can handle that one on your own. I don't want to be a part of what you have in mind. Knowing you it'll be dirty and involve little or next to nothing in clothing."

"Aww, fine then." Toshiro saw the look on Rangiku's face and instantly knew he was in for it. For what, though, he didn't know.

"Matsumoto, whatever it is you're planning, don't go through with it." But it was too late. Rangiku was running towards him and before he could move, Rangiku grabbed him. Because of his height, his face was right where her boobs were. Rangiku took one of her hands and used it to hold his face in place at her boobs. After a minute of him struggling to get free, Rangiku let him go.

"Isn't that better Toshi?"

"No, it's not," began Toshi as he tried to catch his breath, "and my name isn't Toshi. It's Captain Hitsugaya." He ended in a more irritated voice than before.

"It's only Captain when our Soul Reaper duties have to be taken care of. Now that we're dating, I can call you whatever I want, remember, Toshiro?" Rangiku gave Toshiro a look that always made him agree to what she said. It was a combination of a puppy dog face and an "if you don't, I will kill you" face. Naturally, with Toshiro being a captain and Rangiku being a lieutenant he could easily take her, but there was something about that look that sent chills down his spine.

"Fine," Toshiro relented with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face.

"You know, you can call me Rangiku or a pet name, Toshi. It doesn't always have to be Matsumoto. I think we've reached that point in our relationship. Don't you?"

"Whatever. We'll talk about this later. In case you've forgotten, we have company over."

"What? Oh right, Kagome. You've been so quiet, I forgot you were even here." Toshiro then walked out of the room, back to his and Rangiku's room leaving the two girls alone again. When he reached his room, he began to wonder if it was safe to leave them alone.

"Gee, thanks; it's good to know I'm so memorable," said Kagome depressingly in response to Rangiku's comment.

"You are memorable. How can you not be? You're a reincarnated priestess who kicks demon ass." Rangiku took her place back on the couch beside Kagome and looked her straight in the eyes. "You are an amazing person, and it's impossible to forget someone like you and it's impossible not to love you."

"Sesshomaru doesn't love me – not anymore. I wonder if he ever did." Kagome looked away from Rangiku as tears began to form in her eyes, but she stopped them before they fell, determined not to breakdown in front of her friend.

"If he didn't, it's his loss. Do you want to talk about it now or wait until the movie's over?"

"Let's wait until the movie's over. I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"Okay, I'll rewind to where it was when we started wrestling." Rangiku did as she said and the two girls sat quietly and watched the movie. The movie distracted Kagome enough to where Rangiku was able to put chocolate syrup on the popcorn. Rangiku smiled a victorious smile as she watched from the corner of her eye as Kagome ate piece after piece of chocolate popcorn.

"Hehehe," giggled Rangiku.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Oh nothing."

Kagome looked at Rangiku questionably, but went back to watching the movie and eating the popcorn that tasted infinitely better now for some reason.

"Wow that was a great movie," commented Kagome as she stretched her arms and sighed.

"Yeah it was. The decapitation at the end is my favorite part," agreed Rangiku as she stretched her legs.

Kagome finished stretching and sat on the couch actually happier than before. There is just nothing like getting over the blues by watching a movie were a woman slaughters a bunch of bad guys in a huge blood bath. Its unfortunate the happiness brought on by this can be lost just as quickly as it came. Rangiku wasted no time in getting to the point.

"Alright, Kags; tell me what happened."

Kagome's smile instantly turned into a frown and tears once again started forming in her eyes. She whipped them away as quickly as they came.

"Kagome, it will be okay," the orange haired woman said reassuringly, "The best thing to do right now is to talk about it and figure out the issues."

"What's there to talk about? He doesn't love me anymore. He might never have. No matter what I do, I can't see what's on his mind anymore. He's back to being cold and heartless like he was in the Feudal Era. The Sesshomaru I fell in love with is gone and I don't know how to get him back."

"Do you want that Sesshomaru back?"

"Of course I do," answered Kagome with conviction.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Why shouldn't I want that Sesshomaru back?"

"Do you think he can be that Sesshomaru again?"

"Do you think you can stop asking so many questions? Last time I checked, this wasn't an interrogation."

"I'm just trying to figure out what was so great about him and if he's even worth keeping around. I honestly don't see it. Sure he's good looking, even with the weird tattoos, but other than that I don't see it."

"You don't know him like I do."

"I know I don't. So, tell me what I need to know."

Kagome took a deep breath for a moment before continuing. She closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest and sat Indian style on the couch. "He's different when he's with me," she began. "At first, he was just there to help me cope with losing Inuyasha to Kikyo. I was so madly in love with Inuyasha, but I was never enough. He always wanted to be with Kikyo. It didn't matter that I was alive and Kikyo was a walking, undead, clay pot. She went to hell, and he followed her. Being her reincarnation didn't help in the slightest. I wasn't the real thing, just a copy. After the battle with Naraku was over and Inuyasha was gone, Sesshomaru found me at the Bone Eaters Well before I left to go back home to the Modern Era. He didn't say anything to me, but I knew he wanted something."

_Flashback_

"_Is there something you need Sesshomaru?"_

"_I wish for you to replace my left arm. You are capable of that correct?"_

"_Yes, I am. Why are you asking me now? You could've done so several times before now."_

"_My foolish half-brother is no longer in the way."_

"_You say that as if he's always been in the way." Sesshomaru stared blankly at her. "Fine."_

_Kagome walked over to Sesshomaru and placed her hands where his left arm would be. A purple light appeared around her hands and the flesh and bone of an arm formed until it was completely intact. Before Sesshomaru could thank her Kagome grabbed her bag and jumped into the well out of sight. _

_End Flashback_

"Then what happened? If he stayed in the Feudal Era how did you two end up together?" asked a curious Rangiku.

"A few days after I got back he showed up at my doorstep. He looked different. He was wearing a suit and had his hair in a ponytail and his fluff was gone. He said he wanted to thank me for restoring his arm. When he said that, I burst into tears. I don't really know why, but I guess seeing someone from the Feudal Era again so soon broke me down. I had been trying to forget about it – forget about Inuyasha. I fell to my knees and Sesshomaru came over, picked me up off the ground, and carried me inside to my room. I didn't even care that he was the one doing this. I just held onto him and cried on his shoulder. I cried until I fell asleep in his arms. When I woke up the next day he was gone, but he came back later that night. He came to visit me every night. To this day, I don't know why he did. It was so out of character. The only person he ever showed any emotion towards was Rin. After a while, we became closer and went out when I started getting over Inuyasha. Then, one night, I kissed him. He didn't resist it or push me back. He didn't kiss me back the first time, but the second time he did. We started dating and after dating for three years and after my graduation we moved in together. It's been that way ever since."

Both Kagome and Rangiku sat quietly for a minute before the latter female spoke.

"Okay, so that's how you two got together, but it doesn't explain what was so great about him. He still seems too distant for you to fall so hard for him."

"He took care of me. By the time he showed up at my door that first day, he was already a billionaire. He did have 500 years to cultivate his business. I never lacked anything. My family is well taken care of and I haven't had to worry about paying for school or any bills. He's done all that. I'm living every girls dream. I'm dating a rich guy who will give me whatever I want."

"Yeah, I can see the appeal fiscally. Did he make you happy?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean he…it seemed like he loved me. I was happy thinking he did. I thought I could see what he was thinking by looking into his eyes. At some point in our relationship, he started showing some emotion. He didn't just stare blankly at me. He even smiled a few times. They were faint and barely noticeable, but I noticed them. The sex was and is still great. He's a demon in bed." Kagome and Rangiku giggled at her small joke. "I don't know what's happened for our relationship to cool down so much. I can't tell what he's thinking by looking into his golden amber eyes. They're lifeless again – just like they used to be so many years ago. I don't think he wants to be with me anymore. Nothing is as it used to be. I miss how he used to hold me and watch me fall asleep before he did. He even cooked for us every night. He hasn't done any of that in months. Do you think he actually loved me, Giku?" Kagome asked pleading for a yes.

"I think he felt like he had too. I haven't been around him much, but from how I've seen him act around you it seems he acted like he did. He may have loved you at one point. I have only known you for two years, so I can't say for sure that he hasn't. Maybe he felt obligated to take care of you. His brother did leave you for someone else, and you did restore his arm. He waited 500 years to tell you thank you. The man obviously has a moral code he lives by. "

The things Rangiku said hurt Kagome more than she thought they would. She was hoping her doubts about the relationship were only in her head. She could no longer ignore the facts. She realized she's in a one-sided relationship. "So what do I do now?" she asked.

"You find out why he's been with you so long and then move out and move in with me and Toshiro." said Rangiku with a smile.

"I can't move in with you!" exclaimed Kagome

"And why not?" asked Rangiku defensively.

"Because, I don't want to burden on you. I don't have a job. I can't help pay the rent or anything. I'll just take up space and cost you money."

"Now, Kagome, you will not take up space or cost us money. We have an extra room and the Soul Society takes care of most of the bills. Plus Toshi has a job as a Kendo instructor. We will be fine financially. You need to get out on your own and start taking care of yourself. I know you can do it. You survived the Feudal Era after all. Not everyone can say they slaughtered demons and saved all of Japan while taking care of an entire group and keeping a half-demon in check."

"True, I did do all that. You're right. I need to stop depending on Sesshomaru and start depending on myself. I don't need a guy to make me happy. I was happiest when I was taking care of my friends. Sesshomaru doesn't need me to take care of him." As Kagome spoke, her confidence built up. She was starting to be herself again with this newfound assurance that everything was going to be okay. "Rangiku," she began. "I'm breaking up with Sesshomaru, and I'm moving in until I can live on my own. I hope you can handle me."

"Oh, I think I can manage alright. I'll go tell Toshi the good news. Don't leave until I get back okay."

"Okay." Rangiku went to the back room to give Toshiro the good news. Kagome couldn't hear what was being said until Toshiro gave his answer.

"What? She can't live here. It's against regulation. She's not even supposed to know about what we are and the Soul Society!"

"Oh, calm down. She went back in time and battled demons and is a priestess with spiritual powers slightly different from ours. What we are isn't exactly shocking to her. I'm sorry Toshiro, but she's living here as soon as she's out of Sesshomaru's apartment. If you don't like it, you can go live with Ichigo and Rukia." That option stopped Toshiro dead in his tracks. He had no desire what so ever to live with Ichigo. He never called him Captain and considered it very disrespectful to his rank. Not to mention his rash behavior was annoying and unprofessional. So Toshiro relented.

"Fine. She can live here, but if she causes any problems, she's out. I don't care if she has nowhere else to go."

"Thank you, Toshi!" said Rangiku happily. She kissed Toshiro on the cheek and skipped into the living room to where Kagome was. When she walked in she noticed Kagome had her head down and her hands on her knees. "Kagome what's wrong?"

"He doesn't want me here, either."

"Oh, don't worry about Toshi. He's just too caught up in sticking with protocol. Don't worry. He won't give us any trouble. Now come on, I'll walk you home." Rangiku smiled and help Kagome off the couch. They walked arm and arm the entire way to Kagome's apartment, excited about the new prospects living together would bring them.

The apartment was dark when Kagome walked in. _'Sesshy must still be at his meeting.'_ Kagome thought to herself as she turned the light on. Rangiku was right behind her as they walked in.

"Since he's not here you won't be able to break-up with him tonight. Do you want me to stay or do want to be left alone?"

"You can go home. I'm going to enjoy the quiet and get my thoughts together on how to go about this. It'll give me a chance to go around the apartment and see what's mine and what's his. I'll call you tomorrow with the details." she answered with a forced smile.

"Alright; I'll head on home then. Maybe I can convince Toshi to do some cleaning up in your new room. I love making him do whatever I want. Hehehehe."

"Yeah." Kagome's resolve had died when she walked into the empty apartment. She no longer felt confident and all the sadness she had felt before was back.

"We're back where we started aren't we?" Rangiku asked noticing the sudden change in her best friend's demeanor and speech.

"Yeah, we are. I don't think I can do this, Giku. What if it's all been a lie? I don't know if I can go through that again. That pain is so unbearable. Why do I fall in love so easily?"

"I don't know, Kags. I guess it's just in your nature. You're a loving person. You thrive off having people to care about and love. It's only natural you'd want that in return."

"I guess you're right. It doesn't make it any better or easier.

"No, I guess it doesn't. In any case, Kagome, just know I love you and always will.

"Thanks, Rangiku. I love you too," a small smile appeared on Kagome's lips.

"Alright, I'm leaving. I'll see you tomorrow. Call me if you need anything at all. I don't care what time it is. I'll answer."

"Okay, and thanks." The girls hugged and parted ways. Kagome went into the kitchen to get something to drink. She then went into the office and grabbed some placement post it's to put on the things she owned around the apartment. With the music up loud and a bottle of sake in her hand, Kagome perused the apartment marking her territory. A couple of hours passed before Sesshomaru got home at 2:00 am.

The dog demon walked into the apartment expecting Kagome to be asleep or still at Rangiku's. Instead, he found Kagome dancing in the living with a bottle of sake in her hand, the glass being abandoned not to long ago, oblivious to Sesshomaru's presence. Sesshomaru walked over to the stereo and turned off the music, much to Kagome's disappointment.

"What are you doing?" asked Sesshomaru in an emotionless tone.

"I'm dancing, drinking, and marking my territory in a sanitary way," replied Kagome with a giggle at the end.

"Marking your territory?"

"Yes, for when I move out. I'll know what's mine."

"Move out?"

"It's obvious our relationship isn't going any further. It's clear you don't love me anymore and you probably never did." Kagome was hoping for some sliver of emotion to cross Sesshomaru's face or even in his eyes, but nothing. He just stared and didn't say word as she explained. "What I want to know is why you kept me around for seven years. Why you had an intimate relationship with me."

"I owed you for restoring my arm."

"That's it? It' doesn't take seven years to pay someone back for that. You lead me on. I believed you loved me. There has to be another reason. You at least owe me the truth for leading me on for so long."

"You reminded me of Rin, but only for a short time. You fell severely short. I no longer have any use of you. You may leave if you wish."

"You have no use for me." replied Kagome angrily. "So I'm worthless to you now? Did I mean anything to you?" Tears started forming in her eyes. She couldn't help but be slightly mad at herself for nearly crying so many times tonight. She hadn't cried this much since she lost Inuyasha to Kikyo.

Sesshomaru just stared at her. He didn't bother responding to her questions. His silence said everything, and it stung Kagome like a thousand bees at once. He did think she was worthless; she didn't mean anything to him and never did. Her heat and mind were racing. She didn't know what to say at this point. Her worst fears were confirmed. Once again, she fell madly and passionately in love, and was tossed aside as nothing. And by the brother of her first love no less!

"What is it with you dog demons and never getting over your dead girlfriends!" she suddenly blurted out before the thought completely crossed her mind. One of the unfortunate side effects of being drunk – all thoughts are said out loud. "Do I have to die first to be of any interest to you? If I'm not mistaken, you brought Rin back to life twice. She really must have been something extra special to be so important to an emotionless human hating demon like you. I bet she was a good little bitch," she said bitingly.

"You insolent wench! How dare you speak of Rin in such a manner." Sesshomaru brought up his right and brought it back ready to smack Kagome across the face. When she saw his hand go back and start forward, Kagome immediately reacted in one of the only ways she knew how.

"Sit boy!" she yelled. Sesshomaru stopped before he hit her. Not because the command worked, but because he couldn't believe what he heard. Did she really think that would work on him?

"It seems you have forgotten whom you are dealing with. This Sesshomaru will not be brought down as easily by that command as Inuyasha did."

Kagome stared at the silver haired demon in front of her, also startled by her what she had said. She hadn't said that in seven years. She couldn't believe she had said it either. She could see the amusement and hatred in Sesshomaru's eyes. She was frightened by the anger in his eyes. She had longed to see emotion behind those eyes, but she didn't expect to such fire behind them. She took a step back as she braced for the slap she knew she was still going to receive, and receive it she did.

He took to no mercy on her. She insulted his beloved Rin and put him in the same category as his weakling younger half-brother. He didn't use all of his strength or his poison claws, but the force of the slap would leave a nasty bruise. Back in the Feudal Era, he would have killed Kagome for what she had said, but times and laws were different in 2010. He would be arrested and convicted of murder if he killed her. He had no wish to go through such useless trials.

Kagome staggered from the slap and fell back onto the couch. Normally, she would've been able to hold her ground, but being completely drunk didn't help her balance. She sat on the couch crying with gritted teeth while holding the cheek the left side of her face where she was slapped. She said nothing and started at Sesshomaru. His expression was stoic as if nothing had happened.

"You will leave in the morrow." Without another word, Sesshomaru walked into the guest bedroom and closed the door.

'_After all that, he's still gentlemanly enough not to kick me out at 2:00 am and let me sleep in the master bedroom.' _Kagome thought to herself as she took a swig of her sake. She got off the couch and finished marking the last of her things and then went to bed.

In the afternoon, Kagome woke up with a pounding headache thanks to the bottle of sake the previous night, and excruciating pain in her cheek. She lay in bed and stared at the ceiling trying to remember what happened. Since she was wasted, it took her a while to remember that she and Sesshomaru were no longer together, or on speaking terms and she would be moving in with Rangiku as soon as possible.

"*Sigh* I guess I better give Rangiku a call and start packing everything up," she said to herself as she got out of bed and stretched. So Kagome took out her phone and called her best friend and new roommate.

"Hey, Rangiku."

"Hey, Kags. So is everything settled? Are you moving in today?"

"Yes, I am. I just need to pack everything up and I'll be ready to head over."

"Great! I'll come over with some boxes and help out. Will we need two cars for this?"

"Mmm, yeah we will. I have a lot of clothes and books."

"I'll drive over right now and give you hand. See you in a few."

"Okay, see you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

Kagome hung up her phone and took a quick shower and got dressed. She tried to cover the bruise that had formed over night on her face, but it was pointless. No amount of make-up would cover up the purple mass that took up nearly her whole left side. "Rangiku's going to have a field day with this." Kagome said out loud with chagrin coloring her voice.

By the time she was done, Rangiku was at the door. Before Rangiku could react to the seeing the bruise, Kagome gave her look that told her not to bring it up yet. Rangiku obeyed the silent order and the two girls immediately got to work on packing and avoided talking about Sesshomaru and the break up since he was still in the apartment training. When packing was finally done and Kagome was taking the last of her stuff down stairs, she said goodbye to Sesshomaru. She knew he wouldn't like it and would probably say some snotty remark but she kissed him one last time goodbye. Surprisingly, Sesshomaru did nothing. He didn't kiss her back, he didn't move a single muscle, or break his stare. He simply watched her leave and walk out of his life. When she left, Sesshomaru went to his bedroom to take a shower.

Meanwhile, in the elevator…

"Rangiku?" asked Kagome.

"Hmm," she answered.

"Why did the popcorn taste so much better after we stopped wrestling and started the movie again?"

"Oh, that's because I put chocolate syrup on it when you weren't looking." She giggled at the end.

"…..Well played Rangiku Matsumoto. Well played indeed."

"I told you so."

**Ding**


	5. Chapter 4

Ichigo fell off of the couch with a thud, instantly waking him up from his deep sleep. He pushed himself from the floor with a groan of pain while rubbing his lower back. "Damn, that couch is really uncomfortable to sleep on. I have to do this anniversary right so I can sleep in the bed again," Ichigo muttered to himself.

When he was finally on his feet, Ichigo grabbed the blanket off of the floor and set it on the couch next to him as he sat down. The fight between him and Rukia had only been the day before. Since then, he hadn't been able to think of a way to spend his anniversary. He knew it couldn't be a generic dinner and a movie date. It had to be something he'd never done before and it had to sweep Rukia off her feet. Ichigo sat and contemplated this problem further. A half hour passed before Rukia walking through the front door with groceries in her hands broke his concentration.

Upon noticing the bags and the food about to spill out of them, Ichigo sprang off the couch and immediately grabbed a bag from Rukia's arms. "Let me help you with that, Rukia," he said as he started to grab a bag and head into the kitchen.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want go back to sleeping in our room," replied Rukia with dissatisfaction coloring her voice.

"I know. You just have to give me a chance, Rukia. I have one more day to make things right. I know a small gesture like helping with the groceries wont do anything, but it's still something."

Rukia just stared at him trying not to crack a smile. It may not be much, but she truly appreciated the gesture considering this happened rarely as it is. _'I should fight with him like this more often if it means he'll help around the apartment more,'_ she thought to herself as she put the last bag on the counter.

Ichigo wasn't sure how to take the silence. Rukia's unfocused expression left him confused. Instead of letting it go, he decided he should try another polite gesture. "Uh," he stammered. "Have you had breakfast yet?" he asked hopeful of a no.

"What? Oh, yeah, I have. I was up two and half hours before you. You know I don't like to waste my day sleeping like _some_ people," sneered Rukia. "Oh, and be a dear and put the rest of the groceries away. Thanks, Ichi. Hehe," she added as she walked towards the bedroom.

Ichigo's spirit was nearly broken by those words. He began to doubt if he really wanted to rectify the relationship. Why should he be with some one who treated him so coldly, and abused him on a daily basis? Of course the latter was similar to his father's antics when he was living at home. What's so bad about a roundhouse kick out of nowhere by his father first thing in the morning or every time he came home? At least that was out of love. Well, as much as love can be involved in that type of action anyways. With Rukia, Ichigo wasn't so sure.

'_She's really holding a grudge this time. Either that or she's actually starting to get enjoyment out of this.'_ Ichigo ran his fingers through his orange hair in frustration as he tried to make sense of everything. "Man, I need a beer." Ichigo grabbed his coat and set off out of the apartment towards the bar he frequented every day and night. Sometimes after a few beers and a conversation with Renji made everything clear, or at least clearer than when he went in. Perhaps today would be just the same.

The crisp, cool air brushed against his cheeks as Ichigo walked down the sidewalk towards the bar. Winter was always the worst time to walk to places, but seeing as he didn't have a car and left his bus pass at the apartment, walking was his only choice. If he were in his soul reaper form, the cold would be no problem. However, he would have to leave his body behind and he'd prefer not leave it in the care of Rukia. With her mood, there's no telling what she would do to it. Last time he did that when she was in a mood, she drew all over his face with permanent marker. It took him weeks to get it off.

The walk took longer than usual, but finally Ichigo reached the warm comfort of the near empty bar. He sat in the same seat as he had every other time and immediately Renji placed an open beer in front of him without being asked for one. The two had reached a rhythm from the constancy of Ichigo's visits and orders. Of course, being friends and comrades for the past seven years contributed to it as a well. Even if they didn't get along all the time, they knew enough about each other to be able to order each others preferred drinks if need be.

Knowing something was wrong from Ichigo's demeanor, Renji wasted no time in finding out what Rukia had done this time to put Ichigo in such a depressed and angry mood.

"Alright, what did she do?" the redhead asked from behind the bar.

"She's making me sleep on the couch. The only way I can sleep in the bedroom again is if I make this anniversary the best one and basically sweep her off her feet. I don't know what to do."

"How about dinner at a fancy restaurant and a movie?"

"You've never been in a relationship before have you? I can't do that. It's too simple and overdone. There has to be something better than that. I don't even know if I want to go through with it. She's starting to enjoy our fights. It's as if she's getting some sick satisfaction out of it. Is it even worth it?"

"Rukia's always worth it," said Renji with such sincerity Ichigo looked up from his beer for the first time since walking in. "Rukia's one of a kind, Ichigo. She may be a bitch sometimes and a little abusive, but her heart is in the right place. You should know that by now."

"You sound like you're in love with her, Renji."

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm not in love with her. I've known her for over a hundred years. We're merely close friends."

"Right, close friends. So, can you honestly tell me I should stay with her?" Renji didn't meet Ichigo's eyes. Instead, he stared down at the bar and said nothing. His silence said it all. Ichigo understood at that moment Renji's feelings for Rukia. He was in love with her and probably had been for as long as he's known her.

"I see. I'll be going then." Ichigo rose from his bar stool and started to get money out of his wallet when Renji motioned for him to stop, wordlessly saying the drink was on the house. Ichigo nodded his appreciation and left the establishment. Not knowing where he was going, Ichigo just started walking in no particular direction. His thoughts plagued his mind. Uncertainties and questions ran through it. He had no idea what to do. His best friend was in love with his girlfriend. He wasn't sure if he could take the abuse anymore and wondered if he still loved Rukia as he did before. Should he break up with her and let Renji be with her, or should he try and rectify the relationship and take another stab at it?

"Why does this have to be so difficult!" yelled Ichigo in the middle of a crosswalk. Everyone around him stared at him for a moment before moving on. Ichigo stood motionless with his head bowed and his hands pulling at his hair. He didn't move until a car horn blasted through the air alerting him of his surroundings. He looked confused for a minute and upon realizing where he was, he walked on.

At some point, Ichigo found himself in front of Orihime's apartment. Instinctively, he walked up to her door and knocked. When the door opened, a busty redheaded girl opened the door. At first, she was flustered from seeing Ichigo at her door but quickly regained her composure and let him in with a heartfelt greeting.

As they sat down at her traditional Japanese table, Orihime could see the pain in Ichigo's eyes and could feel the pain in her heart. For as long as she'd know him, she'd been able to sense his pain, even if he didn't show it. She could sense his happiness, sadness, anger, and any other emotion. She was connected to him, and this was only strengthened by her love for him. A love she had not yet had the courage to share. Even when she had her chance before going to Hueco Mundo, she could not take it. She wondered if she would ever be able to tell him how she really felt, but right now that didn't matter. He was in pain and she wanted to help.

"Is something wrong Ichigo?" she asked as she poured a cup of tea for him and then herself.

Ichigo sat with his head down and eyes unfocused. He was still in a trance and unaware he was even in Orihime's apartment. Orihime was slightly scared by his silence and continued to try get his attention.

"Ichigo? Ichigo? Speak to me, please." Orihime gently touched his shoulder bringing Ichigo out of his trance. She could see confusion in his eyes as he tried to remember how he got there and why.

"Ichigo, is something wrong?" she asked again.

"What do you mean Orihime? I'm fine," he said as he took his cup in hand purposefully not meeting her eyes.

"No, you're not, but if you don't want to confide in me I'll understand."

"Thanks, Orihime," he said genuinely. They both sat quietly for a moment waiting for the other person to speak. Not really knowing why, Ichigo spoke first.

"It's just…I don't know what to do anymore. My relationship with Rukia is so strained to the point of breaking. I'm sure you know the details, since she confides with you after we fight."

Orihime nodded her affirmation and stayed silent.

"What should I do?"

'_Break up with her and be with me!'_ she pleaded desperately in her mind, not daring to say it aloud. "You should listen to your heart. If you're not happy then do what will make you happy."

"I don't know what would make me happy. I've been with her for so long, I don't remember what it was like without her. I don't remember if I was happy without her."

"Well you must have been since you've been with her for so long."

"Then why doesn't it feel like I was," yelled Ichigo as he shot up and nearly knocked over the table and everything on it. "Shouldn't I remember if I was happy?"

Orihime stared at Ichigo, a little frightened by his outburst, but not entirely caught of guard. After all Ichigo had a habit of yelling and getting worked up when something was bothering him. From experience, she new he didn't mean to yell at her or scare her. It still hurt her, however, to see the man she loved yell at her at the top of his lungs when she'd done nothing wrong. She didn't know what to say and once again Ichigo stormed off and out of her apartment because of silence – that deafening silence that spoke louder than thunder.

For the third time that day Ichigo was pissed off and for the same reason – Rukia. She seemed to be the cause of all of his problems. It wasn't even noon yet, and he had already managed to find out his best friends secret and scare Orihime. The latter hurt him the most. He hated seeing her so hurt. After all, she had been there for him no matter what. She never backed down when she could do something to help. If it weren't for her, he'd probably be dead by now. Chad and Uru would probably be dead too. She saved their lives so many times and never asked for anything in return. She just wanted to be by their side and make sure everyone was okay.

"Orihime, you are too good to me and I don't deserve it."

"You're right, you don't." said a voice behind him.

"What? Who said that?" asked Ichigo as he turned around to find a busty orange haired woman behind him. "Rangiku? What are you doing here?"

"I just finished disposing of a hollow not to far from here."

"A hollow? I didn't even notice it."

"Really? Something must be really bothering you if you're not picking up on a hollow so close to where you were."

"You have no idea."

"Want to talk about it Ichi?"

"No, I don't. I've talked about it enough and it's gotten me nowhere. Now if you don't mind I'd like to be left alone."

"Someone's cranky. Maybe a peak at my chest will cheer you up."

"WHAT? HELL NO!" Rangiku started to take off the top of her Shihakusho(soul reaper uniform) by sliding it off her shoulders. "Rangiku stop already!" Ichigo immediately turned a shade of red that rivaled Renji's deep red hair color and turned around before he saw anything.

"Aw, you're no fun Ichigo." Rangiku pulled her top back on to her shoulders and let Ichigo know he could face her again. He was reluctant at first, but finally after a minute of trying to convince him it was safe he turned around.

"Why is that always your solution to cheering people up?"

"Why wouldn't it be? After all I'm one of the hottest girls you'll ever come in contact with," she said as she walked closer to him. Ichigo instantly backed off, worried about what she would try to do next.

"You shouldn't be doing that since you're with Toshiro now."

"*Sigh* I guess your right. I'll just save it for him. To bad Ichigo, you're really missing out. Rukia doesn't come anywhere close to me, but I guess that's how you like them. Hehehe." Before Ichigo could defend Rukia's appearance, Rangiku flash stepped away from him completely out of sight.

"I need another drink after that." So he set off to another bar where he hoped he wouldn't run into anyone he knew.

Several hours later, Ichigo made it back to his apartment. He knew as much about what he should do when he got home as he did when he was left. He was screwed and he knew it. Yet, he didn't care. Tomorrow would go horribly wrong and Rukia would be pissed and yell at him again. Maybe even hit or kick him a few times.

So he plopped on the couch and turned on the TV. He was drunk and content and nothing was going to ruin that if he had anything to do with it. Unfortunately, he had nothing to do with it. He just couldn't catch a break this weekend. Rukia came out of their room ready to start the next battle.

"Where have you been all day, Ichigo?" she asked from behind the couch.

"Out," he answered vaguely knowing it wouldn't satisfy her.

"Out where?"

"Out in Tokyo."

"Oh, well that narrows it down." Ichigo rolled his eyes at Rukia's comment and turned up the volume on the TV and flipped through the channels.

"Where I've been doesn't matter. What matters is where I'm going."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, yet everything."

Rukia walked over to the front of the couch completely flabbergasted by Ichigo's comments. She's never heard him speak in such a round about way. She thought maybe he was sick or something.

"What is going on with you, Ichigo?"

"Everything."

"Stop talking like that. You're freaking me out."

"Am I?"

"You're drunk aren't you?"

"No, I'm not drunk. I'm wasted. There's a difference Rukia. I figured you would've realized this by now considering I've come home drunk so many times in the last few months or month. However long it's been."

"You know, you're really screwing up Ichigo. Tomorrow better be the best damn day of my life or we're through. I'm not putting up with this bullshit anymore."

"Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?"

"Our anniversary," answered Rukia through clenched teeth. "Are you so wasted you've forgotten?"

"No. I just don't care anymore. I'm tired of the bullshit too Rukia." Ichigo got up off the couch and walked the few steps to Rukia. "All you do is yell at me and beat the shit out of me for no reason. I should have you arrested for physical abuse or domestic violence, but that wont do a damn thing. You won't stay in jail for long. That's assuming they'll believe me and take you away. Knowing you, you'll just cry and make up some story so the cops take pity on you and take me away instead as punishment."

Rukia stood there seething from all the accusations. She was ready to pounce on him and make him wish he hadn't said those things. If only her Zanpaktou wasn't in the bedroom, she'd show him how rough she could be. Even though there was no way she'd be able to take him in a battle between their Soul Reaper selves. Rukia didn't know what to say. She wasn't able to speak anyways. Ichigo kept going, spilling out his heart to her.

"You treat me like I'm trash, like I'm worthless, like I haven't been the one to save you so many times. I've risked my life countless times to keep you from getting hurt.

What do I get in return? You staying in the Soul Society instead of coming back with me after Orihime, Chad, Uru, Yorouichi, and I risked our lives to save you. Eventually you come back and I was happy that you were. I had missed you, and I realized I was falling in love with you. I realized it all the more when I couldn't feel your spiritual pressure in Hueco Mundo when we were saving Orihime from Aizen and his Arrancars. I thought I lost you, and I couldn't bear that thought. I felt my heart break." By this time Ichigo's demeanor changed from angry and resentful to caring and heartbroken. He had loved Rukia and still wanted that love to be true, but he knew it was gone. He couldn't stand the way things were and how he was being treated. He had to end it, and he was going to do it now.

"I loved you with all my heart Rukia, I probably always will in some way." Ichigo put his right hand on the left side of Rukia's face gently caressing it. Rukia put her hand to his to keep it there. The anger she felt was subsiding as Ichigo proclaimed his love to her. It seemed that everything that had happened between them was long gone.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have my Soul Reaper powers. I wouldn't be able to protect those I care about – including you. But that doesn't matter now. You don't need me to protect you or care for you, you've made that clear. Now, I'm taking care of myself. I'm leaving Rukia, and don't expect me to come crawling back to you. I'll fight along side you if I have to, but from now on, it's strictly business between us. I'll get my stuff in the morning. I hope you like having the bed all to yourself." Ichigo took his hand from Rukia's, went to his room and grabbed what he needed. He gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek and walked out the door. This time with his bus card, he took the bus to his family's clinic/home to stay.

"GOOOOD EVENING ICHIGO!" shouted a man from the rooftop of the Kurosaki clinic as he jumped down with the intention of landing a hit on the orange haired man down below.

Ichigo expected this and was able to doge the blow despite still being drunk from his earlier binge.

"Can't a guy come home without being beat up by his dad for once?" Ichigo shouted at the twitching man on the ground beside him. The man quickly shot up as if nothing had happened and put his arm around Ichigo.

"Of course not son." he replied. "So what brings you home?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Without saying another word, Ichigo walked into the house and up to his room without saying hello to his two younger sisters Yuzu and Karin in the living room. His room was the same as he had left it, not a thing changed. Yuzu and Karin refused to take his room when he left for school. To them it would be like admitting he was gone for good and Yuzu couldn't take that. She already had to deal with loosing her mother; she didn't want to loose her brother either, even if he only moved away.

Ichigo immediately went to bed when he got to his room. He was exhausted physically and emotionally, but mostly emotionally. He had kept his feelings bottled up for so long it wore him out when he finally confessed them. He felt lighter now, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. His stress was gone and he was finally happy again. Well he would be tomorrow when he wasn't so tired.

"Why do you think he came back?" asked a dirty blonde haired girl of eighteen.

"I don't know. I bet he's having problems with Rukia again. I wonder what he did to her this time," answered her father.

"You two need to keep your mouth shut. He might be able to hear you. Who cares why he came back anyways," said a dark haired girl also eighteen from across the room. The three of them were sitting in the living room watching TV, but Yuzu and her father seemed more interested in Ichigo's reason for coming home, more than Karin. This was nothing unusual. Yuzu and Isshin, their father, always seemed too interested in the goings on of Ichigo's life. Karin, however, was content to let him be.

Ichigo awoke the next morning with the sunlight pouring in and the sounds of birds chirping. The world was calm and bright and not a single hint of Rukia was in the room as he looked around. He sighed at the sight and felt happier than he had in a long time. He thought he would be depressed by the break up, but right now it was impossible to. He was free, free from the beatings, and the yelling. Free to do what he wanted without being chastised for it. He didn't have to answer to anyone and he loved it.

He got dressed and went down stairs to breakfast and greeted his family with a smile, which surprised everyone. Even before he and Rukia were together, he didn't smile much. He always had a look of brooding on his face. He had ever since a Hollow killed his mom. For years he blamed himself, until he learned a Hollow had tricked him to running down to the river. His mom tried to keep him from jumping in, and that's when the hollow struck. An eight-year-old Ichigo awoke on the ground with his mother's body on top of him. A sight he will never forget, but at least now with the Hollow being killed by his own hands he was at peace with the event.

His family was silent, unable to speak from the shock of Ichigo's good mood. It was so rare they didn't know how to react. It was thanks to Karin anyone spoke at all.

"Welcome back, Ichigo."

"Thanks, Karin."

"How long are you staying this time?"

"I don't know. I don't have an apartment anymore, so I guess until I can get enough money to get one on my own. Dad, can I work at the clinic when I'm not in class to get some cash?"

"Why of course, Ichigo!" answered Isshin enthusiastically. No one seemed to be shocked about Ichigo's revelation of not having an apartment anymore. Both Isshin and Yuzu thought they were right about something happening between Ichigo and Rukia. Knowing Ichigo wouldn't want to talk about it, they didn't push the topic further.

"Dad, do you mind if I borrow the car today? I have to get my things from the apartment."

"Sure. Go ahead."

The rest of breakfast was filled with normal family conversation. Ichigo talked about school, Karin talked about being on the National Woman's soccer team. They had high hopes of going to the FIFA World Cup this coming year. They had for the past three and this year they were going to win. They had to after being in the finals so many times. Yuzu talked about everything that had happened since the last time Ichigo was home and how proud she was of him and Karin. Isshin just sat with a smile on his face as he watched his kids get along and have a civilized conversation. He had missed it over the years since Ichigo went to school. He was all too happy to have his son home.

After breakfast, Ichigo took his dad's car and went back to Rukia's apartment. If he had any luck on his side he might find his things fully intact, or at least most of them. He took a gamble leaving his stuff there overnight after breaking up with Rukia, but he wasn't going to stay another night there.

When he got to the apartment, he let himself him. He found Rukia lying on the couch asleep with a box of empty tissues on the table. She had cried herself to sleep, he realized. He walked quietly through the apartment in hopes of not waking her up. When he got to the bedroom he found all of his clothes and everything he owned already packed in boxes. He was very shocked by this gesture. He didn't expect it from Rukia at all. He wanted to ask her why, but he felt it would be left for a better time. He took several trips to get everything into the car, and somehow he managed to do it without waking Rukia up at all. He was grateful for that. When it was time for him to leave he kissed her on the forehead, left his key to the apartment on the table and left.

It was done. He was completely free from their relationship. Now he could start over anew.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N I've realized I've been forgetting to do this. I do not own neither Inuyasha or Bleach. **

**This is a short chapter but it works as a transition chapter. Enjoy! :D**

School could not come soon enough for Kagome. She was still reeling from her hangover the day before and her break up with Sesshomaru on Saturday. Classes were a welcome distraction come Monday morning. She only had three on Monday's, but it was enough.

The whole day went by smoothly as always. She wasn't even late for her last class, American Popular Culture. At first she thought the day was going to go on as usual. A lecture and power point with a home work assignment at the end. However the teacher did something different this time. He put the class in groups and had them work together. There were three in a group and they had to answer questions and then write the answer on the board. Today, the class started discussing the history of movies in Hollywood.

In Kagome's group were Gotuo Asami, and Hayashi Tatsuya. The professor decided to be lazy and just put the groups together in alphabetical order.

"Alright, so who wants to write the answers on the board?" asked Kagome to her small group.

"Um, I guess I can," replied Gotuo quietly with her head down so she didn't have to look anyone in the eye. Her black bangs hung over eyes and her hair came down to her shoulders. It was slick straight and part of it was tucked behind her left ear.

"I can answer the questions out loud when the professor asks," piped in Hayashi with a huge smile on his face. His black hair was spiked up a bit in the front with hair gel and cut short in the back.

Kagome found the striking difference in their personalities intriguing. She had never really been around people so different from each other in a long time. She quietly giggled to herself when she thought of her friends back in the Fedual Era. She wondered how they were doing, if they were still alive and well, if Sango and Miroku finally go together. She hadn't gone back there since she left. She couldn't bring herself to do so after she lost Inuyasha. The pain and memories were too much for her to bear at the time.

"Higurashi-san?" asked Hayashi "What are you laughing about?"

"What? Oh, nothing. We should get to the questions." Kagome grabbed the sheet of paper with the questions and began to read them out loud. "Number one. Why did directors move from New York to California to make movies?"

"Well, um."

"Go on, Gotuo-san We're listening." encouraged Kagome.

"Well, the book says directors from New York were attracted to how it was nearly always sunny in California. It was also far away enough to where they didn't have to worry about Thomas Edison's patents on the equipment. Also California had an abundance of natural scenery."

"Sounds like we have the answer to number one." exclaimed Hayashi happily. "Great job Gotuo-san."

"Oh, thanks." Gotuo blushed bright red from the compliment. Hayashi didn't notice, but Kagome did. She couldn't resist the urge to find out why Gotuo was so shy.

"You don't get complimented much, do you Gotuo-san?"

Gotuo gasped at the question and tried to pass it off. "Why, would you ask that Higurashi-san?" Gotuo tucked her hair back behind her ear without making eye contact with either of her classmates. She was becoming extremely uncomfortable.

"Because you're quite and reserved. You don't want to speak up because you're afraid of being wrong and you're always surprised when you're right and someone compliments you for it. Either that or you're blushing because Hayashi-san was the one to compliment you."

"Both Gotuo and Hayashi blushed at that last statement." Naturally Kagome noticed and the wheels in her head started turning. For some reason she wanted them to get together. Why should they be without love as well? Sure none of Kagome's relationships have worked out in the end, but it doesn't mean it won't for them. In any case, she decided not to push it any further today. She at least got the idea into their heads.

Kagome started to read the second question changing the subject back to their work when she looked over to one of the groups not far from hers. When she did, she happened to lock eyes with an orange-haired boy. He smiled at her and she smiled back politely. She had a sneaking suspicion she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't remember. _Oh well. It's not important.'_ she thought to herself as she went back to her work.

For the rest of class Gotuo and Hayashi kept sneaking peaks at each other. Kagome couldn't help but smile when she noticed. At the end of class she was slightly disappointed when Gotuo and Hayashi didn't exchange numbers or emails or any form of communication for that matter. _'Guess my work isn't done after all.' _ **Sigh**

Kagome left the classroom and got out her phone to call Rangiku and see if she was free to go out to eat tonight. Kagome felt like celebrating her freedom of being single and no longer under the watchful and oppressive eye of Sesshomaru.

"Hello."

"Hey Giku."

"Oh, hey Kags. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you were free to go out to eat with me right now. I know it's not exactly time for lunch or dinner, but I'm starving and want to do something fun."

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid I'm a bit tied up right now. I'm having some issues with this dress I'm working on and I have to turn it in tomorrow. I might be home late as well."

"That's alright. I'm sure I can find something else to do."

"Great. Well Toshi's at home. Maybe you and him can do something if he's not at work."

"Right, that's likely. The Ice King hanging out with the Priestess. I can definitely see that happening."

"More like the Ice King and the Queen of Sarcasm."

"Hahaha. Any ways I guess I'll just go to the apartment and hang out there. I have a test later this week that I need to study for anyways."

"Alright. If you need anything just ask Toshi and then call me when he wont help you."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight Rangiku."

"Later Kagome."

Kagome hung up her phone as she got to the car. She was disappointed Rangiku couldn't join her and she wasn't looking forward to being in the apartment without her if Toshiro was there. She felt uncomfortable when it was just Toshiro around. She didn't think he was going to try anything with her or anything like that, but his coldness to her made her feel unwelcome. Of course she wasn't exactly supposed to know about him and the Soul Society. So she could understand why, but still she wished he were friendlier to her. It would make living there easier on all of them.

Ichigo woke up to the sound of his father trying to surprise him again. He had definitely not missed these encounters when he was living on his own with Rukia. He was woken early, which didn't help the situation either. With no classes until the afternoon Ichigo worked in the clinic in the morning with his family. It was rarely busy, so the work was easy. It was only when a wreck near by happened that it truly became busy. This was no such day, which left Ichigo bored stiff and wishing he was at the bar, even though it would be no more exciting. However, the conversation might be a bit more stimulating and less disgusting. At a clinic the conversations tend to stay on the topic of illness.

'_Oh, man I can't wait to get out of this place. I actually want to go to class.'_ He thought to himself as he did some filing in the reception area. Still he had an hour to go until it was time to leave. Luckily his father was letting him use the car to get to school and back. It's a lot faster than taking the bus, and a much better way of avoiding Rukia if need be. He was not looking forward to having to do that. He now understood why in most places there was no dating in the work place. Having to face someone you were in an intimate relationship with and no longer being in said relationship was bad enough. Making it everyday at work just made it that much worse. At least it wasn't necessary to see Rukia. They might met up when facing a Hollow and maybe with mutual friends, but with nothing threatening Karakura Town, or Tokyo in general and the Soul Society, he at least didn't have to work with her for a long period of time. He hoped he wouldn't have to anyways. Over the years, he's realized it's never quite for long.

Finally the hour passed and Ichigo was out the door and headed to school in one minute flat. He wasn't excited about school, but he couldn't take monotony of the clinic any longer. _'I have to get a better job,' _he thought to himself as he drove of towards school.

Ichigo made it to his class in plenty of time. The last time he had this class he barely made it. A dark haired girl running into his back interrupted his entrance. He had helped her up and tried to talk to her, but she was to focused on getting to class and barely noticed him. He took note of her name during roll call and decided to find her after class, however that didn't work. He was disappointed, but he had other things to worry about- Rukia. This time he didn't have to worry about her at all and he could focus his attention on this other girl if the opportunity presented itself.

In class Ichigo and his classmates were split into groups, in alphabetical order to his chagrin. They had to answer questions about the history of film in American History. Ichigo's group got questions three and four.

"Okay," he began. "Who wants to do what?" Ichigo looked at his two group partners and waited for an answer.

"Well, what do you want to do?" asked a punk rocker looking guy with platinum blond hair and bright pink tips at his bangs. His hair was cut short in the back and spiked up a bit near the top of the head. His bangs went to left and almost went down to his chin.

"I guess I can answer the questions out loud when Sensei gets to us. What are your names? I can't remember."

The punk rocker answered first. "I'm Kuroki Ryuu or Dragon, which ever one. I answer to both."

The second guy replied, "Kondo Yasahiro. It's nice to meet you." Kondo had brown hair that framed his face and bangs swept to the right side, which stopped at his eyebrows.

"It's nice to meet you too," answered Ichigo politely. "So what do you two want to do?" he asked again.

"I can right the answers on the board." offered Kuroki. "That's leaves Kondo-san to find us the answers. Wake me up when you're done." Kuroki started to lay his head down on his desk but was stopped by Ichigo's voice.

"You can't be serious?"

"What, I'll do my part." a grin formed on his face as he said this. Obviously enjoying himself. Ichigo and Kondo just glared at him. Finally he relented and decided to pass it off as a joke.

Ichigo sighed and looked over at the other groups. He momentarily came face to face with the girl he ran into Friday. He smiled at her and she smiled back. He had the sudden urge to go talk to her, but was unable to due to his group assignment. He hoped for a chance after class, if he could bring himself to actually talk to her. Back in high school he never had this problem. Girls just naturally came up and talked to him. Rukia had appeared in his bedroom unaware he could see her. After the Hollow that attacked his family, with the help of Rukia giving him nearly all of her Soul Reaper powers, was defeated he let her secretly stay in his closet so she could recover her powers in secret. During that time she went to school with him and helped him slay Hollows all across Karakura Town and eventually moving in with him and his family when her stay in Karakura Town would last a long time.

The rest of class was okay. The teacher was happy with their answers and the answers of the other groups. When the end of class came Ichigo got tied up with talking to his group mates and missed his chance of talking to the girl. He left a little disappointed, but hopeful of another chance. He still had half a semester to talk to her.

'_What am I going to say to her? Hey I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. The guy you rammed into that one day. No, that's so lame. She'll just think I'm weird. She probably doesn't even remember doing that with how focused she was on getting to class.' _**Sigh**

Ichigo thought about how he was going to talk to her on his way through campus to his car. Someone he was not looking forward to seeing in the near future interrupted his thoughts before he reached his destination.

"Hey, Ichigo!"

"Huh?" Ichigo looked around until he found the voice that called out to him. What he found was Rukia Kuchiki walking towards him looking completely depressed. "Hey Rukia." He said uncomfortably.

"Ichigo, I'm." Rukia choked on her words, but only for a moment. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and hit you and made you feel so bad. I didn't realize it."

"I can't say it's okay because it's not. How you treated me was wrong. You even started enjoying it in the end."

"What!" she shouted in disbelief. "How can you say that? I wasn't enjoying it. I just liked you helping out more."

"No, you enjoyed it. I could see it in your eyes. You wanted to fight with me because you liked it. I'm not taking that anymore."

"But I can change. I can be different. I can be better for you. Don't you believe that? Don't you still love me?"

"I do still love you Rukia, I always will in some way, but I don't believe you will change. It's not in your nature. You'll find someone someday. Maybe here, maybe in the Soul Society, but you wont find what you need in me." Ichigo then walked off back towards his car leaving Rukia crying into her hands. He hated leaving her like that considering what they once shared, but he knew if he stayed he might give in and he wasn't going to do that no matter what. He was done with the abuse and wanted to move on.

**A/N I know not a lot of Kags and Ichi, but don't worry there will be a lot more in the next chapter. I promise. So stay with me. I'll try and have something up in a couple of weeks before I start school and my new job. Thanks for reading and review please. :D**


	7. Chapter 6

**Again sorry for the wait. It took a few tries to get the Judy part cut down so it wouldn't bore you to tears. Hopefully it doesn't. I'm not sure where I'm going with this story and I need to know if y'all still love it. Judging form my traffic stats people aren't reading the whole thing anymore, which saddens me greatly. So please tell what I can improve on. I want to do a good job. Enjoy! Sorry for people getting a bunch of update emails. I keep having issues with the layout so, please bear with me. This one is an improved version from the one posted earlier, so if you've read it read it again. It doesn't really change until the last view pages.**

Kagome awoke to the feel of a warm light steaming through the window illuminating her face. Once again, the sun woke her before her alarm clock, though she didn't mind. It was as if she was camping outside beside a fire and would begin the day when the sun came up. Just like old times. Literally, like old times. It was how life was when she was searching for the shards of the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls with Inuyasha and her friends. Lately, she was reminded about those times a lot. She hadn't thought about those times in years until everything with Sesshomaru started going down hill. She was starting to miss those times and the people she met then. She wanted to go back, but she didn't know if she could. Would they welcome her back? Would they care? She hadn't been there in seven years. For all she knew they resented her for not coming back to visit even once.

She was disappointed in herself for not treating them better and going back to visit. Inuyasha wasn't her only friend there, after all. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo would've made her feel better about Inuyasha's betrayal. Still, she left without really saying goodbye. Kagome sighed at her situation and decided to mull over it later. She had better things to do then dwell on the past. She had a future to think about. She couldn't live with Rangiku and Toshiro forever. She needed to get her life on track.

So, she turned on her laptop to check and see if any of her classes were cancelled. As luck would have it, her first two classes were cancelled, leaving her the entire morning to do whatever she wanted. What did she want to do, though? _'What do I want to do? Hmm...I'll go ask Rangiku and she what ideas she has. Wait, she wont be up yet and I do not want to go into her room with Toshiro in there. I'll guess I'll go out for a bit and come back later,'_ she thought to herself as she got dressed and ready to leave.

Kagome took to the streets. She decided she'd walk instead of drive to waste more time until Rangiku would get up. She ate breakfast and went shopping. She bought some much-needed new clothes. Despite being broken up from Sesshomaru she had very few casual clothing. Most of her wardrobe was very business like, the way he preferred it. A few hours passed and she made her way back the apartment happy with her new clothes. She couldn't wait to show Rangiku.

"Hey Rangiku!" she yelled when she came through the door into the apartment. "Are you here?"

Rangiku came around the corner in a light blue tank top and dark blue pajama shorts that barely covered anything. The tank top barely even contained her breasts, but that was the way she liked her clothing. She felt no reason to not show off her "assets".

"What's up Kagome?" she asked stifling a yawn as best she could.

"I just went shopping and I wanted to show you what I bought."

"You went shopping without me!" she shouted so loud the whole building probably heard her.

"Well, you were sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you. The sun had just come up. You would've killed me if I tried to get you up that early."

"True, but still; you know how much I love shopping. I'm going to school to be a Fashion Designer for God's sake. I could've helped you."

"Exactly. I'd be wearing the skimpiest clothing you could find. I don't like wearing next to nothing. I much prefer to be more clothed, just not so professional like Sesshy liked."

Kagome started taking all of her new clothes out of the bags and laying them out on the couch for Rangiku to peruse. Without even messing up the conversation, she was able to give her opinion on the clothing and still carry on the conversation with Kagome.

"You know, if you're ever to going to get over him completely you need to stop using his nickname. Pair that pink sweater with the white skirt. Wear your white-strapped heels with it too. Though, I don't know why you bought a skirt when it's fall."

"It was cute and I kind of forgot about the cold weather. It's hard not to say his nickname. I've used it for so long. It's harder to stop using it than I thought it would be."

"I know Kags, but you have to do it. Suck it up and call him Sesshomaru. No more Sesshy. What is this?"

"It's a military style jacket. What's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong with it is that you're not in the military. We're taking this back. We're taking everything back and getting you some more weather appropriate clothing. I have so much to teach you about clothes. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stop referring to Sesshomaru as Sesshy."

"Exactly; after I eat and get dressed, we'll go take everything back. I don't want to see any missing tags on any of these clothes. Got that?"

"Got it!"

"Though, I will take this white skirt."

"Hey, you can't do that!" Kagome tried to grab Rangiku before she could get away, but she wasn't fast enough. Before she got the sentence out, Rangiku flashed stepped out of the room and back to her bedroom.

"I paid for that you know!" she yelled hoping Rangiku heard.

"Thanks for the present, Kags!" Rangiku yelled back from the bedroom.

"Thanks for the present, my ass," she mumbled under her breath as she headed to the kitchen for something to drink.

0.o

Instead of working at the clinic, Ichigo took a stroll along the river – the same river where is mom was killed when he was nine. His mind always went back to that memory whenever he passed this place. It was a painful memory, but knowing that the Hollow who killed her was dead brought a sense of peace and comfort. He sat at the spot where his mom died and reflected on that day. It was raining that June 17th…

_Ichigo and his mother walked home in the rain after leaving the dojo. Ichigo was splashed in the face by a passing truck._

"_Oh, that careless driver. Come here. Are you okay?" his mother asked while wiping off his face with handkerchief. "Let me switch places with you and walk next to the street so that doesn't happen again."_

"_No you don't have to do that. I'm the one with the raincoat so I don't mind. Let me protect you from stuff like that, okay?"_

"_What a brave boy. That's very sweet, but before you worry about protecting me you should work on protecting yourself from that Tatski."_

"_Come on, I won a point from her last time."_

_Masaki laughed sweetly. "There you go. You're all cleaned up now. Let's go and I'll walk on the street side this time."_

"_Hey. Mom, can I – can I hold your hand, please?"_

"_Why, of course you can." Masaki held out her hand and smiled down at a nine-year-old Ichigo already eager to protect those he loved._

_**I loved my mother so much. I always felt safe when she was with me.**_

_Ichigo and his mother continued walking and ended up walking at the top of the hill overlooking the river. Ichigo looked down and saw a little girl next to the rushing water._

"_What's that girl doing?" he asked pointing towards the girl._

_**Back then, I didn't know I was seeing ghosts. I couldn't tell the difference between the living and the dead.**_

_Frightened for the girl, Ichigo ran down the hill as fast as he could._

"_I'll be right back."_

"_Ichigo, where are you going?" his mother called out to him frightened as well._

"_No, Ichigo, stop!" she yelled after him. She dropped her umbrella and ran after him._

_The girl appeared to jump into the river, but when Ichigo tried to grab her his hand went right through her clothes and he fell too._

_**When I was little, my dad told me my name means he who protects. Up until then, I had just wanted to protect my mother and my sisters, but that day I knew I was meant to protect that little girl too.**_

_Ichigo woke up and saw his mother lying on top of him unconscious._

_**That's all I was trying to do, but instead my mom died trying to protect me from going into the river. I never saw what caused it, I never saw it coming, but I knew when I looked at her, my mom was dead. **_

_He tried to wake her up by shaking her and calling out to her, but it was no use. Blood covered her back and the sidewalk. She was gone._

_**That little girl was gone. I remember thinking how was I going to explain what happened to Karin and Yuzu. We all loved my mom. She was always the center of our universe, the heart of our family, and now that heart had been cut out-by me.**_

A sense of grief rushed over Ichigo. It had been thirteen years since then, but it still caused him pain every time he thought about it. He missed his mother. He missed her smile, her laugh, the way she kept his father in check. He missed everything about her. He just wanted to protect her, to keep her safe and he felt like he had failed. For years, he believed it was his fault. He never understood why no one blamed him. When he finally asked his father one day, he told him it was because his mother would never forgive him if he blamed Ichigo. Isshin knew the truth then, anyways. He already knew a Hollow did it, so there was no point in blaming Ichigo and making him feel worse.

Ichigo spent most of the morning in that same spot thinking about his mother and all the good times they had together and as a family. He wished she could still be here with him. He was lost in thought and didn't even hear the voices at the top of the hill.

0.o

"Now don't you like you're new clothes a lot better Kagome?" asked Rangiku as they walked along the sidewalk.

"I love them, but why did we have to go all the way to Karakura Town to get them?"

"Because, I love the stores here. They have much better clothing than the ones near the apartment. They're cheaper too."

"Oh, okay. They are really nice. I love the down boots. They're so cute and I love that they're in green. You know, the skirt I had earlier was fine. Girls in Japan wear skirts more in the winter than they do during the summer. The pink sweater and white skirt would've been a great outfit."

"Oh, I know. I just wanted the skirt for myself," Rangiku replied with a smile and mischievous laugh.

"What? I so hate you right now." Kagome glared as best she could, but she found it difficult to hold. She always did with Rangiku. It was near impossible to stay mad at such a carefree attitude.

"You'll get over it. Besides, the new clothes you have are much better anyways. Really, and none of it's skimpy. I know what you like."

"You really annoy me sometimes." By now the two best friends were walking on the hill by the river. Kagome looked down at the river and saw some one sitting on the sidewalk with bright orange hair.

"Huh?"

"What's up?"

"I think I know that guy."

"What guy?"

"The one sitting by the river."

'_Ichigo? She knows Ichigo?' _Rangiku thought to herself.

"Where do you know him from?" she asked.

"I think he's in my American Pop Culture Class. He smiled at me Monday."

"And did you smile back?" Rangiku was becoming very intrigued by this new development.

"Of course, I did. It would've been impolite if I didn't."

"So do you like him?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to him. We just happened to look at each other at the same time. I don't even know his name."

'_Well, this is getting interesting. Should I introduce them or let it happen on it's own? Well, she doesn't seem too interested so I suppose if anything happens it will happen on it's own. Orihime's in love with him anyways. I don't want to be apart of something that's going to cause her more pain and sadness.'_

"Well, maybe you'll find out in class today. It's the only one not cancelled right?"

"Yeah; we should probably get back to the apartment so I won't be late."

"Okay, let's go back to the car."

"The sun looks so pretty from here doesn't it, Rangiku?" asked Kagome before she turned around to head back to the car.

"Yeah, it does. I told you walking up here was a good idea."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just go already."

The two walked back in the direction they came from and headed back to the apartment.

"All right, class. Today we will start our group projects. I will call out the names of each group. They will be groups of two."

The class murmured with the soft sounds of people talking to people near them expressing whom they wanted to be partners with or whom they didn't want to be partnered with.

"Gotuo Asami, you will work with Hayashi Tatsuya."

"Great!" Tatsuya exclaimed. Asami just blushed, but a smile appeared on her face.

'_Yes! Maybe now those two will finally get together by the end of the semester now that they have to work together,' _thought Kagome from her seat.

"Kuroki Ryuu and Kondo Yasashiro."

"Oh no," groaned Kondo from his seat. He put his head in his hands and shook his head in disappointment.

"Alright! We'll be a great team Kondo. I hope you're ready to work," said Kuroki happily.

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at his former group mates. He wondered how long it would take before Kondo became agitated with Kuroki and complained to the teacher for a new partner. He bet a week tops.

"Next are Kurosaki Ichigo and Higurashi Kagome."

"Who?" Kagome asked.

"That would be the gentleman with the spiky orange hair Higurashi-san," replied the teacher as he pointed towards the back of the class at Ichigo.

"Oh." Kagome looked back and her eyes went wide as she realized it was the guy she saw at the river a couple of hours ago.

'_I can't believe it! I'm partnered with her. This is great. Now I have to get to know her, but why is looking at me like she saw a ghost.' _Ichigo thought happily.

Kagome kept staring at Ichigo with shock, which made him very uncomfortable. He smiled awkwardly at her and rubbed his right hand on the back of his head. Finally, when the teacher started talking about the guidelines for the project, she stopped staring and turned her attention towards him.

"Class, each group will get an icon. You will then research that icon and explain why that person or group had a major impact on American Popular Culture. You will then present your findings to the class at the end of the semester. This will be worth half your final grade. You can do whatever you want. You can write an essay, you can do a video, a power point, anything. I will now pass out a paper with the guidelines to each of you, and once you are in your groups, I will come around with a hat and one of you will pull out a piece of paper. Whatever name is on that paper will be your icon. These will range from actors of the stage to movie stars to singers to authors and to fashion designers. Good luck. Now, get into your groups once I hand you the paper with the guidelines."

After Ichigo and Kagome both received their papers, Ichigo got up and made his way over towards her and sat down in a chair beside her. He turned said chair towards her so he could properly face her.

"Hi, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Higurashi Kagome. It's nice to meet you too Kurosaki-san," she said a little flustered.

"Are you alright? You look a little flustered or something."

"Oh, I'm fine. It's noting to worry about."

'_Come on, Kagome. Get a grip. Don't freak out in front of him. He's just the guy you saw at the river, not a celebrity or something.'_

"I wonder who we'll get," supplied Ichigo, trying to make conversation.

"I hope it's someone I'm familiar with," she said much more calmly than before.

Before either one could speak again, the teacher came over with the hat. Ichigo reached in a grabbed a folded piece of paper and opened it.

"Ju-dy Gar-land." he read slightly uncertain if he read it right. He wasn't used to saying the r sound since Japanese didn't use it. Luckily, he had some practice with English in high school and didn't completely butcher the name.

"Judy Garland? I've never heard of her." Kagome said the name with more confidence than Ichigo did. The r even sounded better coming from her.

"Neither have I. I guess we have our work cut out for us. When do you want to get together and work on getting this planned out and figuring out who she is?"

"I don't have any classes after this one. If you're free we could head over to the library start doing some basic research."

"Yeah, I'm free. I don't have any classes after this one either and I have the day off from work."

"Where do you work?" she asked genuinely interested.

"I work at my family's clinic in Karakura Town. My dad's the doctor there. I help out with patients and some reception work with my sister, Yuzu. Karin does occasionally, but she's usually practicing."

"Wait, do you mean Kurosaki Karin, from the women's national soccer team?"

"Yeah, why?"

"She's amazing! She's the youngest player on the team and clearly the best. She's you're sister?"

"Yeah; I'm guessing you're a fan."

"I've watched a few games." Her casual tone of voice did not come out as casual as she would have liked.

"Right," he said smiling.

"Alright, class. I will see you Friday. You may leave."

"Shall we go to the library then Higurashi-san?"

"Yeah, I wonder what's so great about Judy Garland."

"Who knows? She couldn't have been that great since I've never heard of her."

The teacher looked up from his desk as he overheard Ichigo and Kagome's conversation. "Just because you haven't heard of her doesn't mean she didn't have an impact Kurosaki-kun. After all, she's from America, not Japan."

"Yeah, but I've heard of all the big names of Celebes in America today."

"Who said she was from this era, or this century even?"

"Great, we got some dead celeb."

"That's not very nice Kurosaki-san. He said the people he chose are icons, she must have done something worthy of that title."

"I guess."

0.o

Kagome and Ichigo found a computer that was a little out of the way of everyone else. Kagome sat at the keyboard and Ichigo pulled up a chair and sat next to her with notebook in hand. Kagome got on the Internet and typed Judy Garland in the search bar.

"Let's see. Judy Garland – Wikipedia. Judy Garland – IMDb. The Death of Judy Garland."

"I knew she was dead," Commented Ichigo with a sense of victory at being right.

Kagome gave him a sideways glare and then continued reading off the search results.

"Judy Garland Database: Home page. The Judy Garland Museum Welcomes You. Wow, she has a museum. Maybe she had more of an influence than we thought. Then there's a bunch of other ones. So, which one should we click on?"

"Hmm..How about The Judy Room? That looks promising."

"The Judy Room it is."

"Wow, look at all that stuff!" exclaimed Kagome in wonder. "She looks beautiful, even for it being just a drawing. There's latest news and events, photo galleries, discography, filmography, media, miscellaneous, and a donate/shop link."

"How can a dead person have latest news and events?"

"I don't know. There's also a video on the home page too. Judy at Carnegie Hall. 50th Anniversary Tribute Video. Want to look at it?"

"Nah, lets try and figure out who she is first. See anything that might tell us that?"

"Let's try the photo gallery page first."

"There are a lot of choices. What's MGM? Concert Years. So she was singer apparently. Galleries from the 1930s through the 1960s. I knew she was from last century. No wonder I haven't heard of her. Scroll down some more."

Kagome scrolled down to a section where it looked like the galleries were explained.

"Judy Garland was one of the most photographed personalities of the 20th century. Wow! Impressive. From what it looks like MGM was movie studio. So she was an actress too. Hey look at that photo."

"Which photo? There are like five or six different ones."

"The brown one in the middle. She was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz! I loved that movie when I was little. I used to sing "Over the Rainbow" all the time around the house. She has a beautiful singing voice."

"I don't know if I can imagine you singing that song as a little girl. Prancing around and skipping down the yellow brick road." Ichigo smirked and tried hard not to laugh at the image of a five-year-old Kagome singing "Over the Rainbow" with a stuffed animal puppy.

"Oh shut up." Kagome lightly hit her hand on his arm and did her best not to smile. "It's a very important movie. That movie alone is iconic." She defended matter-of-factly.

"Whatever. Is there anything else more interesting? So far I'm not impressed."

"Someone's hard to please."

"Lets try a different website. This seems to be one for people who already know who she is."

"Okay."

"Lets try IMDb."

"One of the brightest, most tragic, movie stars of Hollywood's Golden Era, Judy Garland was a much-loved character whose warmth and spirit, along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theater-goers entertained with an array of delightful musicals."

"That's a really long bio. Since we know who she is, why don't we just call it quits for the day?"

"Done researching already Kurosaki-san?"

"I just don't find this interesting in the least. So she did musicals. So what. There's nothing great about that."

"There has to be something great or Sensei wouldn't have put her name in the hat." Kagome was starting to get annoyed at Ichigo's unwillingness to work. Not to mention his pessimistic attitude. She hated when people were like that. "Now are you going to help me or not?"

Ichigo just turned his head and looked away instead of giving her a verbal answer. Kagome recognized the hint. "Fine, I'll do the rest myself. Why don't you just go home or something since you have no interest in this." _'He's just like Inuyasha.'_

_"_If you don't want me here then fine, I'll go home. Have fun with Judy." he replied coldly.

"If you're just going to complain, then yes I don't want you here. If that's all you're going to do then just leave." Kagome took out a notebook from her backpack and began writing what she believed pertinent to her project. She didn't bother to look at Ichigo anymore. She said all she needed to say. From the silence Ichigo got pissed off even more and left in a huff.

0.o

Ichigo left the library pissed off. Not so much at Kagome, but at the fact he finally got to talk to her and he blew it all because he didn't want to work on the project. He knew it was important and worth a lot of his final grade, but he just wanted to talk to her. _'How can she be work oriented. We have two months to finish this project. It's not the end of the world if we don't do a lot of research the first time. I bet she was a straight A student in school and only studied all the time.'_

Ichigo made it to his car and threw his stuff into the passenger seat with enough force to break something if there was anything breakable in his bag. He was still steaming at his own stupidity. Somehow he always put his foot in his mouth when it came to talking to girls. He sat in the drivers seat and closed the door ready to drive off, but something stopped him. It wasn't a person or an object or even a conscious thought. He just couldn't leave. So he got out the car and grabbed his backpack and headed back to the library. He was going to fix things with Kagome before he completely lost his chance.

0.o

Kagome looked up from her notebook as Ichigo walked away from her towards the door. _'What an ass-hole. He's seriously going to make me do this whole project by myself. He really is like Inuyasha.' _Not wanting to think about Inuyasha or Ichigo for that matter, Kagome went to back to work on her project. The more she read about Judy the more she liked her. She hard a life and even though she died at 47 from a sleeping pill overdose, Kagome thought Judy still came out on top. She never backed down from anyone and stood her ground. She lived through verbal and physical abuse from her mother and step-father. Verbal abuse from the Studio, and not the mention the mental problems it all caused, which were made all the worse by the various pills that were shoved down her throat so she could work long hours. The two even had something in common; they both lost their father at a young age and were extremely close to them. Judy never quite recovered from that loss and it still pained Kagome from time to time.

When she finished her research for the night she was a little sad. She missed her dad. She wished she could talk to him and hear him talk back, but she couldn't. So instead she closed her eyes and imagined her dad smiling at her and holding her. Whenever she missed him she did this and all the pain would go away from the happy memory. Unfortunately, that happiness was cut short when she heard a backpack land on the empty space of the computer desk she was sitting at. She reluctantly opened her eyes and saw Ichigo sit down next to her averting her eyes.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked coldly.

"I came to apologize for the way I acted. I shouldn't have complained so much and shouldn't have made you finish doing the research by yourself."

Kagome didn't say anything for a few minutes after his apology. She was still mad, but after thinking about it she realized she shouldn't write him off so quickly. He did come back and apologize and did it in a short amount of time, unlike a certain dog demon she used to know. "I accept your apology, but you better not do this again or I'm going to have to tell Sensei to not give you any credit if you didn't do any of the work."

"I wont do this again. How about I make it up to you. Do you – do you want to go get some dinner?" he asked hopeful. _'Say yes, say yes!'_

"...I am hungry. I suppose dinner wont hurt. Just let me call my roommate so I can let her know I won't be home. She starts worrying if I don't call her after being out of class for a few hours.

"Okay. I'll meet you outside then."

"Okay." Kagome walked to the room where she could use her cell phone and Ichigo grabbed his things and headed for the door glad to have a second chance with getting to know Kagome.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry it took a while for this update. I don't know how much I'll get to write with going to school full time and working, but I'll try and update as often as I can. Enjoy the chapter and remember to review. I won't know if you like it unless you say so. :)**

"Hey, Rangiku, it's Kagome."

"I know it's you, hun. You're picture pops up when you call."

"Oh, right. Hehe, anyways, I won't be home for a while. You remember that guy we saw at the River in Karakura Town?"

"Yeah?" replied Rangiku warily.

"Well, he and I got partnered up for our final project. We've been doing some research and decided to take a break and get some dinner. I don't know how long it will be, but I don't think I'll be to long."

"Sounds like you two are hitting it off pretty well, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that. Dinner is his way of apologizing for being a dick, and I'm too hungry to pass up free food."

"What did he do?"

"I'll tell you later. The sooner I eat, the sooner I can get home."

"Alright, but in case things take a turn for the better, the spare key is on top of the door frame if you get home too late tonight."

"Seriously, Rangiku?"

"What can I say? I'm an optimist. Use a condom." **Click**

Kagome glared at her phone as what Rangiku said rang through her ears. "Use a condom. Does she really think I'm going to do that after just meeting him?" She put her phone back in her purse and walked out to the front of the library where Ichigo was waiting.

"So are you ready to go?" he asked as she came outside.

"Yeah! Where do you want to go?"

"There's a sushi place just down the street."

"Sushi it is," Kagome deadpanned. Despite accepting his apology she was still annoyed at him and the research left her slightly exhausted.

"Then, follow me to my car."

They walked in silence. Neither person really knew what to say. Ichigo was nervous because of his crush and how he made her mad earlier and walked out on their project. Kagome just didn't have anything to say to him. She was content to not speak the rest of the night and eat her sushi in peace.

0.o

Once they finally got to the restaurant and settled into a booth, Ichigo finally spoke.

"Look, I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't want to focus on the project. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Why would you want to talk me?"

"Because, I find you interesting. I wanted to get to know you."

"But we've never talked to each other before today."

"Oh, but we have talked before Higurashi-san."

"We have? Are you sure?"

"Yes, we have. Just think about it for a minute," He encouraged with a smile as he sipped his drink.

Kagome thought back to the past few weeks of school. Seeing him at the river earlier didn't count since he wasn't aware of her. Smiling at him in class didn't either. "Wait a minute. Class…I ran into you trying to get to class on time last week!" she exclaimed happily at figuring out the mystery.

"Yep, that's when we first talked. You were so intent on getting to class on time, I couldn't believe it. I had to know more about you."

Kagome blushed slightly but regained her composure quickly. She didn't want him to see she was flattered. A relationship with him was not something she wanted, especially after just ending the previous one. "I see. I suppose I can let earlier slide then. Just don't think it will happen again. I meant what I said earlier. If there's one thing I can't stand, its group partners who don't work."

"Fair enough; it's lucky for you I'm not the type to let other people do my work for me."

"Good," she replied coolly.

Ichigo could feel the ice in her voice and he realized he had a lot work ahead of him if he ever wanted to get in her good graces. An awkward silence ensued for the rest of the dinner. Kagome became increasingly tired and was very relieved when her cell phone started going off.

"Oh, my phone! I'm sorry. I forgot to put it on vibrate."

"No worries."

"At least, it's just a text."

_Rangiku: Remember to use a condom and the spare key is on top of the doorframe. ;) _

Kagome glared at her phone, slightly annoyed at her friend. Then again, this is just to be expected with Rangiku.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ichigo when he noticed a not so pleasant look on her face.

"No, it's just my roommate being…well her. I should probably go before she starts getting worried."

"Okay. I'll drive you to your car." Ichigo grabbed the check and started to get out his wallet. He paid for the dinner and left a good-sized tip for the waitress.

Back at the car Kagome thanked Ichigo for the ride and dinner and said she'd see him in class on Friday. He did the same and drove off as she got in her car. It was only about eight o'clock when she got home. Naturally, Rangiku was eager to hear all the details.

0.o

"So how was the date?"

"It wasn't a date, Rangiku." replied Kagome flatly.

"Sure it wasn't. It was just you and a guy eating dinner together in a restaurant."

"Exactly. Just that."

"But you like him don't you?"

"I think I'm not interested in even thinking about a guy right now."

"You're going to have to get with someone at some point. Your needs must be fulfilled," supplied Rangiku suggestively.

"So…you're saying I should give him a chance just to have sex with him?"

"Not necessarily with him, but with someone."

"Is sex the only thing you think about?"

"No, I think about clothes too." Rangiku smirked and Kagome couldn't help but laugh at her friend.

"You're something else, you know that?"

"Yes, yes I do. I'm going get some ice cream out of the fridge. Want any? We can finish talking about your date on the couch."

"Sure and it wasn't a date. How many times do I have to say that? Don't forget the chocolate syrup." Kagome laid her stuff on the floor by the couch and sat down with a huge sigh on the couch while Rangiku went to the kitchen to get the ice cream.

"So what's this project you mentioned?" asked Rangiku as she scooped some vanilla ice cream into the bowls.

"We have to research an icon in popular culture and present it to the class any way we want."

"Who'd you get?"

"Judy Garland."

"Judy Garland? That name sounds familiar." Rangiku handed Kagome her ice cream and sat down beside her on the couch facing her with her legs crossed.

"She was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz."

"Oh that's right. I saw one of her albums in a record store not to long ago. I think it said something about Carnegie Hall."

"No way! Seriously! That's album's legendary! According to my research anyways."

"Really? What's so great about it?"

"I don't know yet. I didn't get too far in researching. I just did enough to figure out who she was. I'll have to do more to figure out what's so great about that album and about other things. I have to find out why she was such a big influence on American Popular Culture."

"Sounds like fun. What's with all of this I stuff? I thought you two were supposed to work together."

"We were, but he was completely disinterested and left during the middle of our research. Granted I told him to leave if he was just going to complain and not do nothing the whole time."

"I can see why you're so adamant about it not being a date. Lazy group partners are a serious pet peeve of yours. So what's this guy's name?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo," she replied emotionless as she set her empty bowl down on the coffee table.

Rangiku didn't react to the name since she was already aware the guy was Ichigo. With Kagome's disinterest in him, she felt she didn't have to tell her she knows him and decided not to press the conversation any further. Besides, Rangiku didn't want to do anything that would cause Orihime anymore pain. The past seven years had been torture on her heart. Another girl in Ichigo's life would just makes things worse.

Before another conversation could start, Rangiku's phone started going off alerting her to a hollow. Toshiro was in the room in seconds and the pair left their gigai's and headed out of the apartment through the window leaving Kagome alone on the couch.

She didn't mind though. She was glad to finally be alone. So she turned on the TV and grabbed a pillow to hug as she watched one of her favorite shows.

0.o

Rangiku and Toshiro were surprised to find Ichigo was already fighting the Hollow when they arrived. He didn't usually respond to a Hollow alert since Toshiro and Rangiku lived near by. He seemed to be handling the Hollow just fine so Toshiro and Rangiku just watched incase they were needed.

This particular Hollow was stronger than the previous ones they fought, but Ichigo seemed to be taking his time with it. He dodged it and faked it out. He wasn't exactly having fun with it, but he seemed to want to prolong the fighting as much as possible.

"Well, Ichigo seems to be in a sour mood," commented Rangiku on the roof of a near by building. She was standing in a relaxed position where as Toshiro was standing up straight with his arms crossed and expressionless.

"Isn't that the norm for Ichigo?"

"True. He seems to be in a worse one than usual."

"Didn't he and Rukia break up over the weekend?"

"I believe so. That's what Orihime told me the other day. Apparently he had wondered to her apartment with out even realizing it and started yelling at her. He was clearly upset over his relationship with Rukia at the time. I even ran into him shortly after he left. From what I overheard I think he's slowly realizing what Orihime means to him. I just hope he figures it out before it's too late."

"So you're for Kurosaki and Inoue getting together, but not Higurashi and Kurosaki?" Toshiro asked nonchalantly.

Rangiku looked over at him in surprise. "You know they know each other?" she nearly screamed it at him, but he didn't flinch and just stared at Ichigo as he tormented the Hollow.

"You know you and Higurashi aren't very quiet when you two talk, and the walls are thin. Nothing gets past me, Lieutenant Matsumoto. You should know that by now."

"Yes, Captain, I know that. What should we do about it? We already run a risk with Kagome knowing about just you and me."

"We don't do anything. Kurosaki knows the rules and the risks. If he's smart, he won't let it slip. If we're lucky, the relationship wont progress farther than it already has. It seems it's on a downward spiral as is. Perhaps, in the end, he will see that Inoue is in love with him and he'll choose her over Higurashi."

"You really don't like her, do you, Captain?"

"I have nothing against Higurashi. I just see no reason to communicate with her more than what is necessary. It was the same with Inoue when we lived with her when we had the Arrancars to deal with. Come on, lets go. Kurosaki's about to finish this."

"Yes, Captain."

The pair flash stepped their way back to the apartment and went on with their night.

0.o

Ichigo was in a bad mood as drove home. The dinner didn't go as well as he had hoped. He blew it and he knew it was going to take a while to patch things up between them. He didn't understand why she seemed so cold though. He did come back not to long after and apologized. He even bought her dinner. That had to account for something. Right? When he got home he found his dad and Yuzu watching TV and Karin kneeing a soccer ball behind the couch.

Ichigo walked up to Karin and caught the ball as it got away from her.

"Hey, Karin. Can I ask a favor?"

"Sure Ichi-nii."

"Can you sign some soccer stuff? My project partner in my class is a big fan of yours."

"Yeah I guess. What do want?"

"YEEEEP!" at hearing their conversation Yuzu jumped off the couch and screamed. She ran over to Ichigo clearly excited about the new developments.

"Yuzu, what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Who's this partner? Is it a girl?"

"Yeah, it's a girl."

"Ichi-nii's got a crush! You do like her, don't you?"

"Come on, Yuzu. Leave Ichigo alone. He just broke up with Rukia. He doesn't need you making his love life any more difficult by prying. What do you want me to sign, Ichi?"

"I don't know; a picture or something. Maybe a couple of things."

"I'll bring it to you later."

"What's her name? Is she pretty? Are you going to ask her out?" began Yuzu again.

"Yuzu! I said knock it off. Let's go to our room. You can help me pick out something to sign."

"But he hasn't answered my questions, Karin!" rebelled Yuzu in a defiant standing position in between siblings.

"I said let's go." Before Yuzu could retaliate any further, Karin grabbed her ear and dragged her off to their room upstairs.

Ichigo, glad to be rid of the interrogation, went up to his room and closed the door. He got on his computer and started researching Judy Garland. If he was going to patch things up anytime soon, it had to start with their project. He spent the rest of the night finding out anything he could and finally went to bed exhausted around three am.


	9. Chapter 8

**I hope you enjoy the new chapter. I would love reviews, especially about the part between Rangiku and Toshiro. I like how it turned out, but I'm not sure if it seems like a conversation they'd have. So please give me some feedback. It'd be much appreciated. :D **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Bleach. NOW READ!**

"There's no reason to mess this up. You can do this, Ichigo. This has to work," the orange haired man said as he mumbled to himself, while walking across the campus to his Friday class. He had soccer memorabilia in hand, and a speech forming in his head in order to get on Kagome's good side before making things worse. He was going to fix things and he was going to do it today, no matter what.

When he reached the classroom, he found an empty seat next to Kagome. Before entering he took a deep breath in order to calm his already racing heart rate. When he sat down, Kagome merely smiled at him awkwardly and looked back down at her notes.

'_Damn, she's still mad at me.'_ Ichigo sat in his seat looking towards the front, but not focusing on anything as he went over the plan one more time in his head. As he was turning towards Kagome, the teacher began speaking and delayed his mission much to his displeasure.

"Alright, class.; today will be just like Wednesday. You'll get into your groups and begin researching your icon. By Monday, I want each group to have some sort of outline noting anything significant. The length doesn't matter. As you progress, you will no doubt decrease your list on facts down considerably. Sign the paper on the table if you leave the classroom to head somewhere else. If you don't sign it, I will count you absent, which could mean major consequences for those of you who don't show up as often as you should." When saying the last sentence he looked directly at Kuroki Ryuu and crossed his arms emphasizing his point. Ryuu just smiled at him as if he was not the one the comment was directed at.

Once everyone started pairing off, Kagome turned to Ichigo ready to get down to business. "Since we didn't get much done Wednesday, we'll just go to the library again. However, I'm not doing the research alone this time." Kagome's voice had an air of detachment to it. It did not go unnoticed to Ichigo at all. He was beginning to think the soccer memorabilia wasn't going to cut it.

"I have no intention of making you do it alone Higurashi-san. Honest. To make up for my childish actions Wednesday, I've brought you a gift." Ichigo grabbed said gift and bowed in his seat as he presented it to her. Kagome did the same as she accepted it.

She opened the gift and was very pleased with the signed poster of the team with all of their signatures and the signed poster of just Karin. Once again, she didn't want Ichigo to see she was pleased so she held back any emotion and thanked him for the gift before putting it away.

Ichigo looked very disappointed and disheartened by Kagome's actions, however, it was only for a moment. He had not lost his resolve quite yet. He was determined to make her smile at him and accept him no matter how long it would take.

After Kagome put the gift in her bag, she got up and gathered her stuff silently. She walked over to the table and signed the paper before walking out. Ichigo quickly gathered his things and signed the paper as well. He saw Kagome just before she turned a corner. He ran up to her and quickly fell in step with her stride as they made their way to the library in another awkward silence.

0.o

The pair sat a computer and with Kagome at the keyboard and Ichigo beside her. "Since we know who she is now," began Kagome, "I guess we start digging a little deeper to find anything of significance. Any ideas where we should start, Kurosaki-san?"

"Actually, I did a little research myself. I wrote it all down including where I found the information if you want to double-check anything." He took out his notebook and opened it to the appropriate page and slid it to her.

Upon looking at all of the information, Kagome was slightly impressed with his work. He had a list of all of her movies including the year they were released, the Studio that made it, and whom she stared with. He listed awards, notable albums, notable radio appearances, and notable TV appearances. He definitely had done his research. Even Kagome couldn't deny that. "This is very extensive Kurosaki-san. I am impressed with all that you managed to find out. With this, we can start looking into each individual thing and see if anything significant is associated with it." When she was done reading through everything she even managed a small smile. Ichigo could see the tension leave her face and body. She was starting to relax around him. He smiled to himself, proud of his progress.

The two began looking through the movies and started taking notes. In order to move faster Ichigo went to the computer next to her and started going through the awards Judy won or was nominated for. A couple of hours passed before they took a break and started comparing notes. Slowly but surely they were becoming more comfortable with each other. There was still a ways to go, but at least Kagome was starting to warm up to him. One last big gesture, he believed, would do the trick. What that gesture was he didn't yet know.

Kagome was looking at Ichigo's notes when she noticed something at the top of the page. It was her name. "Why did you write my name at the top of the page?" she asked.

"Oh, uh. I wrote it down the day when we bumped into each other. I didn't want to forget your name," he said kind of embarrassed she saw it.

"Oh…well that's sweet of you to want to remember Kurosaki-san." A slight blush appeared on her face. She wasn't sure how to react to that. It took Inuyasha days to even say her name thanks to her resemblance to Kikyo, his lost love. Kagome frowned at the thought. She didn't even notice Ichigo was looking at her worried she was mad at him for wanting to remember her name.

"Higurashi-san? Are you okay?" he waved his right hand in front of her face trying to get her attention.

"What?"

"Are you okay? You're frowning pretty intently."

"Oh, yeah; I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about." Kagome waved it off with a small laugh and got back on subject. "Since we're done with movies and awards, let's move on to albums and radio appearances. Which one do you want?"

"I'll take albums and you can take the radio appearances."

"Okay, then. After we're done with these, we'll call it a night. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

0.o

Ichigo was looking through all of her albums when he came across one entitled Judy at Carnegie Hall. He remembered there was a tribute video for the album on a website he and Kagome looked at a couple of days ago. His previous research also mentioned it won five Grammy's, including Album of the Year. After looking at the video, he decided to see if he could find it anywhere in Tokyo or any part of Japan for that matter. As luck would have it a local store had a copy of the original LP. It was a bit expensive, but considering how significant this album was to Judy's career and pop culture in general, he decided it was worth the buy. _'This could be the big gesture I need to seal the deal,'_ he thought excitedly to himself.

He wrote down the stores information in a page far in the back of his notebook so Kagome wouldn't see it when looking through his notes. He wanted to surprise her with this album. For the first time ever, he saw the value of his dad's obsession with vinyl. He could have Kagome come over and listen to it on his dad's record player. He started forming another plan in his head and he was confident it would work this time.

When he finished his half of the research, Kagome finished hers. Both were getting very tired from all the work they did. They had been at it for about four hours. They split the rest of their work and went their separate ways more comfortable with each other than when they first started.

0.o

"So how was today's research session?" asked Rangiku while she, Kagome, and Toshiro enjoyed a late dinner together in the apartment.

"Better than last time. He did quite a bit on his own before class today, which helped us get a place to start researching. He also gave me a couple of signed posters. One's of the Women's National Soccer Team with their signatures and the other is of just his sister Karin who's on the team. She's my favorite player!" Kagome replied happily.

"Well, things seem to be picking up between you two. I think Ichigo's doing his best to get back on your good side." When saying this Rangiku gave Toshiro a sidelong glance, which went unnoticed to Kagome. Toshiro did the same with Rangiku and she understood what his message was. They were to not interfere with Kagome and Ichigo's relationship. Whatever consequences come from Ichigo's actions, he brought it on himself. Rangiku would have to be supportive of Kagome's decisions concerning Ichigo while also not pushing for the relationship. This could prove quite difficult if things progress.

"I guess so. It's possible he could achieve that, but I hope he doesn't think anything is going to happen. A boyfriend is not what I need right now. I just need to focus on my studies and get into a prestigious medical school."

"It seems you have your priorities in good order, Higurashi. I'm impressed. At this rate you would make a better Lieutenant than Matsumoto," added in Toshiro without making any eye contact with either woman.

Kagome looked shocked by his complement. Rangiku started twitching and threw her empty rice bowl at him, which he promptly dodged with no problem while having his eyes closed as he ate.

"That wasn't very nice, Toshi, and how many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me Matsumoto anymore. Rangiku is fine. Everyone knows we're dating or are you ashamed of being with me?"

Neither Toshiro nor Kagome expected that last question from Rangiku. They both wished at that moment they were somewhere else. Kagome did, however, want to hear his answer if he had one.

Toshiro sat in silence with wide eyes for a good few seconds, which felt like eternity to Rangiku. Finally he answered her, "I don't think we should have this conversation in front of Higurashi."

"I don't care if she's here to hear it. I would tell her what you said anyways. Might as well say it now."

Toshiro thought for a few more moments. He wasn't sure what to say. The wrong answer could have serious consequences that he was not prepared to face. He wasn't even sure if he was in love with her. Dating her just seemed like the right thing to do. While he thought, Rangiku became increasingly impatient. She took his silence as his answer. She left the table in tears and ran to her bedroom.

Toshiro started to say something when she left the table, but it was useless. She wouldn't have listened to him anyways. He sighed and lowered his head not saying a word.

Kagome was extremely uncomfortable at this point. She wanted to rush to Rangiku's side immediately, but she also wanted to know what Toshiro was going to say when Rangiku got up and left the table. She decided to go with the latter.

"What were going to say?"

"It doesn't matter now." Toshiro got up from the table and left the apartment, leaving Kagome alone at the table.

She got up and went to Rangiku's room and knocked on the door. She could hear her crying on the other side.

"Rangiku? Can I come in?" she asked quietly, but loud enough for her to hear. She didn't answer so Kagome opened the door and went in. She found Rangiku lying down on the bed with her head buried in her arms and sobbing. Kagome walked over to the bed and sat down beside Rangiku, grabbed a pillow and placed it in her lap. Rangiku immediately moved her head onto Kagome's lap without saying a word. The two just sat without talking. Rangiku continued crying and Kagome ran her fingers through her hair soothingly. Finally, after a couple of hours, Rangiku fell asleep in Kagome's lap. Once she was sure Rangiku was fast asleep Kagome positioned herself in a laying position and moved Rangiku to where her head was laying on Kagome's chest. Not long after Kagome also fell sound asleep.

0.o

Toshiro went to the roof of the apartment. It was his favorite place to go and think. He wasn't particularly close to anyone else in his little group of Soul Reapers and humans. He had no one to go to with his problems, but he liked it that way. It was none of their business anyways. It was between him and Rangiku, and apparently Kagome since she witnessed the conversation.

He began to think about his relationship with Rangiku and what it meant to him- what she meant to him. He looked back on their relationship. How they met, how they got to be in the same squad, and just their lives together these past couple of centuries.

She has always been there for him. She yelled at a shopkeeper for being rude to him as a child. Convinced him to join the Soul Reaper Academy to learn how to control his Spiritual Pressure and being completely loyal to him as his Lieutenant and never doubting his decisions. She never once left his side when he needed her. She was an even more loyal girlfriend. Sure they're complete opposites down to what they like and don't like in food (she likes dried persimmons and he hates them). Yet, somehow, they complimented each other perfectly.

Toshiro looked out towards the full moon, its light shining directly on him and making his white hair shine brighter than in the sun. The cool air and the light from the moon were calming. He could think clearly in moments like these.

He realized his relationship with Rangiku meant a lot to him. He wasn't ashamed of her at all, but expressing his feelings has never been an easy task for him. This stemming from being ostracized by the other kids when he lived in the Junrinan District in West Rukongai in the Soul Society. For some reason, everyone was afraid of him though he never did anything to anyone. His only friends were Momo Hinamori and his grandmother.

Now the question is does he love Rangiku. They've been together as a couple for only a year, but they've been friends for decades. Still, despite everything they've been through he can't say if he loves her or not.

Hours passed as Toshiro stared at the moon. He didn't go inside until morning not sure if he should or not.

0.o

Kagome woke up first with Rangiku's head still on her chest. The blonde beside her was fast asleep. Not wanting to wake her up, Kagome maneuvered herself out from under Rangiku as slowly and quietly as possible. With it being Saturday, neither one had to go to class so Kagome was going to let her friend sleep as long as she needed.

When she walked into the kitchen, she saw Toshiro eating breakfast at the table at instantly stopped. They made eye contact for a brief moment, but both of them continued what they were doing in an uncomfortable silence. It was pointless for her to ask him anything. She knew him answering her was very unlikely.

Kagome went to the counter and started making a pot of coffee. As she was preparing it, she voiced her opinion to Toshiro. "She cried for hours last night, you know. You really hurt her by not answering. If you don't want to lose her you need to figure out the answer fast."

Toshiro didn't make any moves or say anything. He continued to eat in silence.

"Just so you know, if you continue to make her cry or hurt her I will hurt you. I may not be at a Captains level, but I can hold my own in a fight." She poured herself a cup of coffee and went back to Rangiku's room to check on her. Before she left the room completely she stopped and said one last thing, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder you know." With that, she went back to Rangiku and left Toshiro to contemplate her words.

After Kagome was out of the room, Toshiro sighed and put down his chopsticks. He had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to go back to the way things were before unless he fixed things with Rangiku.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." He replayed the sentence in his head a few times before making his final decision. He was going to leave. He couldn't go back to the Soul Society, but he had to leave town. Solitude, he hoped, would make the answer clear to him. Not really needing anything from his room, Toshiro grabbed his sword, work supplies, and his wallet and walked out the door.

0.o

Before going back into where Rangiku was, Kagome went to her room to grab her notes and computer. When back in Rangiku's room she gently set her stuff on the bed and the coffee mug on the nightstand before slowly get back on the bed beside her unconscious roommate. Kagome looked at her friend for a few moments and smiled sadly. She felt sad for her friend. She knew what it was like to have your heart ripped out by the one you love. She knew the experience all to well and she had to go through it alone the first time. This last time Rangiku was there for her, so she was going to be there for Rangiku, no matter what.

It was just early morning when Kagome woke up. Just after sunrise, so it was several more hours before Rangiku finally woke up around eleven. Rangiku opened her eyes slowly and blinked away the sleep from her eyes before finally sitting up on the bed next to Kagome. At first she was a little confused as to why Kagome was on the bed next to her, but she quickly remembered the events from the previous night. She ran her right hand through her blonde locks and sighed.

"I need a drink," she said with a note of sadness ringing in her voice.

"Sake or something else?" Kagome asked looking up from her computer and at her friend.

"Sake of course. Is there anything else I drink?"

"No, but I wanted to give you the choice anyways. Just the bottle or the bottle and a glass?"

"Just the bottle, please."

"I'll be right back." Kagome got off the bed and went back into the kitchen to get a fresh bottle of Sake that is somehow always on hand. When she got back in the room, she found Rangiku staring out the window with longing in her eyes.

"Here," Said Kagome as she handed the bottle to Rangiku.

"Thanks, Kags. You're a good friend."

"So what, anybody who gets you a bottle of Sake is a good friend?" she asked jokingly.

"No, you know what I mean. For not saying anything and just letting me cry and for not leaving my side. It means a lot, you know. We've only known each other for two years, but you're like a sister to me. The closest person to me other than-"

"You don't need to finish that sentence." Kagome sat down at the foot of the bed in front of Rangiku as close to her as she could. "You're like a sister to me, too, Giku. I'd do anything for you. You're the closest person I have - period. I'd have no one without you." The two girls smiled at each other as they realized how close they became over the past two years. They weren't best friends anymore, they were sisters.

"So what have you been doing while I've been asleep?" Rangiku asked as she took a swig of Sake.

"More research for my project. I'm researching her TV show and Kurosaki-san is researching TV appearances. Then on Monday we'll combine our findings to form our outline, which will then be gradually reduced as we narrow everything down to the most important."

"Sounds like fun," she replied dryly offering Kagome the Sake bottle. Kagome gladly took the bottle.

"Oh, it's a blast," she said with mild sarcasm before she took a big swig of the drink in hand and then coughing as it went down. "I don't see how you can drink that so easily, Giku."

"Centuries of getting used to it, hun. I can drink anyone under the table."

"I have no doubt about that." The two laughed and spent the next few hours drinking and talking. By the time they were done, three Sake bottles were empty on the floor and both girls were passed out on the bed.

0.o

"Hey. Can I help you find anything?" asks a young man behind the counter of vintage record store.

"Yeah. I'm looking for-Ryuu? Is that you?" asks a surprised Ichigo as he made his way towards the counter in the back of the store.

"Kurosaki-san! Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you work here. Not very surprising, though."

"Yeah I have for a few years now. I love listening to vinyl records. The snap and pop of it sends chills down my spine. Nothing else like it. Digital is great and all, but you don't get the feel of being in the recording studio with the artist like you do with vinyl."

"Sounds like you have your dream job."

"Yep. I love my job. So what can I help you find?"

"Oh, right. I'm looking for Judy at Carnegie Hall."

"Well that's an unusual choice. I didn't peg you as a Garland fan." Ryuu started walking through the store to the appropriate section looking for the album.

"I'm not. She's the icon I got for the project. I figured listening to some of her music would help. Apparently this concert is legendary."

"You have no idea how legendary man. Why not buy the album off of ITunes?"

"It's a long story."

"Right," he replied suspiciously while pulling out the album from the rack. "Okay, so you realize this is an original LP and only has the songs on it right, and it's in English?"

"What do you mean just the songs? What else would it have on it?"

"Have you researched this album at all?'

"Of course I have!" Ichigo yelled defensively.

"Then you should know the original only has the songs and none of the story's she told during the concert. Only the 40th Anniversary CD has that. The original LP is what won all the Grammy's and is incredible! The other one I mentioned is just as good and gives you the whole concert experience. I suggest buying them both. Luckily, we have both."

"Alright I'll take both of them. You're not just messing with me are you? You're not trying to get me to buy more than I need?"

"Of course not, Kurosaki-san. You have my word." Ryuu bowed and smiled slyly as he always does.

Ichigo took the album from Ryuu and followed him to the CDs and got the 40th Anniversary album. When they were at the counter Ichigo had a few questions to ask Ryuu.

"So how do know so much about this album?"

"I'm a Judy fan myself. We play a myriad of records here and one day Carnegie Hall played and I have been a fan ever since. I would have loved to have her as my icon for the project."

"You don't look like someone who would like this kind of music."

"Never judge a book by its cover Kurosaki-san. You may be pleasantly surprised. Here you go. Enjoy." Ryuu smiled at Ichigo and Ichigo smiled back and handed him the money in exchange for the items.

"I'll see you in class, Ryuu. Later."

"Later, Kurosaki-san."

Ichigo left the record store and headed back home. "This idea better work," he said aloud to himself.


	10. Chapter 9

**So I know it's been nearly three months since I've updated, but I finally got something to post. I apologize for the grammar mistakes that are inevitable. My beta hasn't been able to proof it yet. She will eventually and when she does I'm switch them so it won't be painful to read if you can't stand grammar mistakes. This chapter gave me hell so I hope it turned out well and you like it. Please give me some feedback on how you think this story is progressing. I kind of know where it's going, but not really. Read, review and enjoy! I will try not to take three months to up date this time. I am pretty swamped though...**

Chapter Nine

The sun peaked through the curtain of a dark room littered with empty sake bottles. It was late afternoon, but the occupants of the room continued to sleep soundly on the bed sprawled out on top to the covers. The blonde had an arm dropped over the edge of the bed with a tight grip on a half empty sake bottle she and her raven haired roommate failed to drink before passing out on the bed. The raven-haired girl lay with her head at the foot of the bed and her feet nearly on the head of her roommate. Neither girl moved and if it were not for the steady rise and fall of their chest and back no one would know they were alive. Their weekend of drinking left them exhausted and hung over. They'd drink for a few hours and then fall asleep just to wake up and drink some more before falling asleep once again. They only left the room to get food or to use the bathroom. The rest of the world outside of their apartment didn't matter. It wasn't until the sunlight peering through the curtain and shinning in one of the girl's eyes did one of them wake up.

The girl slowly raised her head and winced as the sunlight shined in her bloodshot eyes. She slowly took in her surroundings before making her way to the curtain to shut it completely blacking out the sun. Her head throbbed from the hangover she was experiencing. Deciding not go through this alone she crawled back onto the bed and scooted over to unconscious friend and started shaking her awake.

"Hey Rangiku wake up." The sound she managed to get out of Rangiku was a groan. After a couple of minutes or failed attempts to wake her up the raven-haired girl opted for pushing Rangiku off the bed. The blonde landed with a thud, which elicited another groan before she finally started to move and sit up.

"What the hell? How did I end up on the floor?" she asked aloud to no one in particular.

"I pushed you off the bed." replied the girl on top of the bed.

"Why did you push me off the bed?"

"Because I have hang over and I didn't want to deal with it alone."

"So you decided to wake me up and have me suffer too." surmised Rangiku as she pushed herself up and sat against the bed still clinging to the sake bottle in her hand.

"Exactly."

"I hate you Kagome."

"I know. Do you know what day it is?"

"I have no idea. Why haven't you checked your phone or something?"

"Because I didn't think about it." replied Kagome matter-of-factly.

"Of course you didn't. So check it and tell me what day it is." Kagome reached over to her nightstand and looked at the date on her phone.

"It's the Sunday the 24th. Ugh! I have school tomorrow!" groaned Kagome as she face-planted onto the pillow.

"Hahaha Sucks for you!" teased Rangiku.

"So do you." deadpanned Kagome. The smirk on Rangiku's face left and was replaced with a glare. The two silently glared at each other until one of them broke down and started laughing.

"So what happened this weekend?" asked Kagome as she really took in the sight of all the empty sake bottles around the room.

"I have no idea, but whatever it was it should happen again and soon."

"Agreed. How about next weekend?"

"What is next weekend?"

"Umm…the 29th, 30th, and 31st. Hey! Halloween is next Sunday! We should do something fun!" suggested Kagome excitedly.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Dress up and go to a party or dress up and go to a bar.

"And what should we dress up as?"

"I could go as a priestess and you can go as something slutty. I'm sure you'll have plenty of choices to choose from."

"Slutty sounds good. Okay I'm in!"

"Yes!" yelled Kagome. Both girls wince at the high-pitched sound of her voice.

(0.o)

Ichigo spent most of the weekend kicking himself for not getting Kagome's number. What good are the albums if he can't show them to her? He had hoped to patch things up with completely by now, but the universe seemed to be working against him. His plans to get in good with her barely worked. He was beginning to think just being friends with Kagome wasn't going to happen, which just made his resolve to fix things that much stronger. Even if he could've shown Kagome the albums he wouldn't of had the time. Between working in the clinic and fighting hollows he didn't even have time to relax at home. While at the clinic on Sunday afternoon he contemplated his predicament.

"Why does it seem like there are more hollows than usual?" he thought out loud while sitting at the reception desk.

"That's because Rangiku and Toshiro haven't been watching their area." replied a voice from the clinic doorway. Ichigo was startled out of his thoughts and looked to where the voice was coming from.

"Orihime? What are you doing here?" he asked surprised.

"I came to see if you know anything about why both Toshiro and Rangiku have been neglecting their duties."

"No I don't know why. I've never really talked to either of them outside of Soul Reaper business. Have you tried going to their apartment?"

"Yeah I have, but they never answered and calling didn't work either."

"Maybe they've eloped." Ichigo supplied jokingly.

"What? Do you really think they did! That's so mean! Why didn't they invite me? I could've made the food!" Orihime continued to ramble to herself until Ichigo finally cut her off.

"Hey it was just a joke Orihime. Calm down. I don't think they eloped, especially without telling you."

"Really? That's good. So what do you think is the real reason?"

"I don't know. I don't really know them well enough to come up with anything. I'm sure whatever the reason it's a good one. We're not suffering without them."

"That's true…." the two stood in an awkward silence. Neither really knew what to say. Orihime knew what she wanted to say, but actually saying it was an issue.

"Is there anything else you need Orihime? Can I get you a drink or something?"

"Um sure. Some tea would be nice."

"Alright. Since it's pretty dead we'll go upstairs. I can get Yuzu to take over for a bit."

"Okay then." The two went upstairs to Ichigo's room and had tea. The conversation was practically none existent for the first five minutes. Finally Orihime mustered up the courage to ask what she'd been wanting to since arriving at the clinic. "How are you doing Ichigo?"

"I'm doing great. I've been so much more relaxed lately. It's nice."

"I see. So not being with Rukia has been going well?"

"Yeah. Everything is so much better now that I'm out of that relationship. It was hell Orihime."

"Was it really that bad? You never really talked about it much with me. I mostly just heard Rukia's side."

"Well Rukia's side of the story isn't the whole story. You know how she was, always yelling at me and attacking me. It just got worse has we got farther into our relationship. By the end I was drinking all day and night and couldn't stand being around her. I never did anything right. Everything I said and did was wrong. I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't feel like she loved me anymore."

"I'm so sorry Ichigo. I had no idea you felt that way." Orihime felt sad for Ichigo. She wanted to feel loved, even if it wasn't by her.

"I doubt Rukia said anything about how I felt."

"She mostly just said you didn't care and would spend all day and night at the bar with other women."

"Did you believe her?"

"Not once. I tried to tell her that you weren't like that, but she never listened."

"Figures. That was one of our issues. She never listened to me. I got tired of trying to defend myself against things I never did. So you really didn't believe her?"

"No I didn't. Ichigo I've know you longer than she has. I know your heart. You're not the type to turn your back on someone you love."

"Thanks Orihime. It's nice to know someone gets me. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're a good friend."

The last word stung like a thousand knives were being stabbed in her heart. Friend. The most dreaded word you could hear from the person you love when they're talking about you. Orihime did her best to hide her pain. Though Ichigo probably wouldn't notice if she didn't. He wasn't very observant when it came to things like that.

"Yep that's me, a good friend, nothing more." Ichigo smiled at her and drank his tea unaware of the meaning behind her comment. She smiled back as best she could. She set her tea down and got up off her pillow. "I have to go now Ichigo. Thanks for the tea. I'll see you around."

"Oh okay then. Thanks for stopping by. Oh and I'll let you know if I find out anything about Toshiro and Rangiku."

"Thanks Ichigo." Orihime walked out of his room, ran down the stairs, and out of the door. She ran until she made it to her apartment hoping she could get there before the tears started to fall. _'Friend.' _she thought. _'Is that all I'll ever be?'_

O.o

On Monday class went on as usual. Kagome and Ichigo worked on their project and turned in their outline. The conversation rarely strayed from the topic of Judy Garland. The more Kagome learned about her the more fascinated she became. She admired Judy's ability to always laugh at the bad things in life. Her sense of humor was impeccable and always made Kagome smile. She'd find herself watching videos online before bed of various stories Judy told in interviews on her TV show. Even Ichigo started gaining an appreciation for Judy. It was nowhere near Kagome's at this point, but he was starting to understand why she was such an icon, a living legend in her time. She was a singer, a movie star, a poet, a fashion designer in her later years, a TV star, and most importantly to Judy, a mother. Her career stretched to nearly every aspect of the entertainment world and she conquered all in her short forty-seven years. Slowly Judy became someone he respected and now a common interest with Kagome. Finally before the end of class the conversation came to the topic of listening to the albums Ichigo bought.

"When are you free Higurashi-san?" asked Ichigo.

"Um…let me think." Kagome furrowed her brow in thought. "I'm free after class on Wednesday or well anytime really at the moment. My Tuesday/Thursday classes are over mid afternoon. So anytime in the evening this week."

"Great. How about tomorrow night then? My dad has a record player we can use."

"Yeah tomorrow night sounds great. What time?"

"How about six o'clock. You can have dinner with us, or we can meet after dinner? Whichever time you're more comfortable with." he suggested sheepishly.

"Dinner sounds fantastic. My roommate's been the one cooking lately and she has a very unusual taste in food. I can guarantee you've never tasted anything like what she cooks."

"Oh you'd be surprised. I have a friend who has the oddest more sickening taste in food. She's a great person, but I can't eat her cooking without getting sick. She comes up with the weirdest combinations." The Sensei announced class was over and the two grabbed their things and walked out of the classroom together still talking not really paying attention where either person was going.

"Well my roommate tricked me into eating chocolate popcorn one night." Kagome then stuck out her tongue in disgust, even though she actually enjoyed the concoction.

"Hey now, don't put down chocolate popcorn. That's one of Orihime's better ideas. You should give it a second chance."

"Hmph…fine. It wasn't that bad, but who thinks to put chocolate on popcorn? I mean really?"

"I guess you just need an active imagination. Orihime definitely has that in spades. She always comes up with these weird scenarios when things happen. Stuff that no ordinary person would ever think of happening. If I'm ever late for something she automatically thinks I've been kidnapped by ninja's or aliens, or Sou -unworldly thing." Ichigo quickly caught his near slip up, he hoped Kagome didn't notice what he was about to say. He didn't want to have to get into a conversation about Soul Reapers. Not everyone believes they exist.

"Sounds like she cares an awful lot about you." Ichigo sighed in relief when Kagome didn't mention his quick change of words.

"Yeah I guess she does. I've known her since middle school. We've been through a lot together over the years. She's never let me down once. I can always count her." Kagome could hear some sadness in his voice. As if he felt guilty about something. She didn't really know what to think of it at that moment. It was a side she'd hadn't seen of him in the past few weeks.

"Was she your girlfriend at one point?" Kagome found herself asking before she the though completely crossed her mind. She mentally kicked herself after asking.

"What Orihime? My girlfriend? No, she's just a really close friend." Ichigo then stopped in his tracks and started off into space. "My girlfriend? Orihime as my girlfriend…..nah." After concluding it never happen he walked on and he and Kagome continued their conversation.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to ask that. It's none of my business." she said apologetically.

"No it's fine. I've never though about Orihime that way so it kind of threw me off."

"So what did you decide? Could she be your girlfriend?"

"No I don't think she feels that way about me. Sure she cares, I know she cares, but we're just friends."

"If she did feel that way then would you consider her to be your girlfriend?"

"I don't know. Last time I dated a friend I was really close with it ended badly and now our friendship is different. I don't want to loose Orihime the way I lost Rukia."

"Makes sense. Loosing a friendship with someone you're so close to can be a devastating thing." The two walked in silence for a few moments as their experiences went through their minds. Ichigo thought of Rukia and Kagome thought of Inuyasha. The loss of him was more devastating to her than the loss of Sesshomaru. "Well I better get going. I need to make it home in time so I can cook dinner tonight instead. Either that or order take out before my roommate can start cooking."

"Alright then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then. I'll text you with the address and directions when I get home. Hopefully you'll b able to find it without to much trouble."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow Kurosaki-kun." Kagome smiled and then turned around to walk to her car. Ichigo smiled back and watched her walkway while trying to hold back his excitement about her coming over.

0.o

When Kagome got home she found no one in the apartment, no sign of Rangiku at all. The only thing she did find was a note on the table in Rangiku's handwriting.

Kagome,

Toshiro came home! He's taking me out to dinner! We'll be home late so don't wait up. I knew he'd come home. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. I'm so happy he's back Kagome. :)

Rangiku 3

'_I hope he's really back and not breaking up with her. That'd devastate her.'_

Kagome put the note back on the table and set her stuff down before going to the fridge to see in there was anything to eat. After finding nothing Kagome picked up the phone and ordered take out. When the food arrived Kagome settled down for a night of movies, food, and Judy.

0.o

Kagome was awoken from her sleep on the couch the next day when the loud voice of Rangiku rang through the room. Kagome groaned in annoyance and laid back down on the couch not ready to get up, but Rangiku then came over and sat on top of her singing her name until she finally relented and said she'd get up.

"Why are you so happy this early in the morning? Why are you even getting in this early in the morning? Talk about a late night."

"Didn't you read the note I left you?"

"Note? What note?" she asked with a yawn and stretch.

"The one I left on the table."

"Oh right! Toshiro came home. I guess everything worked out otherwise you'd be crying instead of singing. So what happened?"

"Yep! I came home to find dried persimmons on the table and an ice flower beside them. I didn't see Toshio anywhere, but when I picked up the ice flower he came into the kitchen dressed in a tux. He looked so handsome Kagome. He told me he was sorry for what happened and that he wasn't ashamed of being with me at all. He told me what you said and that's why he left. While he was gone he realized how much I meant to him. So he took me to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants and while we were there he told me he loved me." Rangiku smiled and her eyes glistened and sparkled with the memory of the night before. Her happiness radiated off of her. Kagome couldn't help but feel the same happiness for her friend.

"That's fantastic Rangiku! I'm so happy for you. I know he meant everything to you. I'm glad he came to him senses and realized what a great girlfriend he has. So where is he?"

"Oh he's outside the apartment. He didn't want to be in hear when I told you. He was afraid there'd be squealing."

"Oh I see. Of course he'd think that."

"Thanks Kagome. For being there for me when I needed you the most. I don't know if I would have made it through that weekend if it weren't for you."

"It was no problem. I'd do anything for you Giku. You know that."

"Yeah I know. I better go get Toshi before he leaves again." Rangiku got off the couch and went to the door to let Toshiro inside. Toshiro walked in, still dressed in his tux from the previous night.

"Looking good. It's nice to have you back."

"Thank you Higurashi-san." replied Toshiro hesitantly.

"Since you're sticking around you can just call me Kagome."

"No I will n-"

"Toshi." Rangiku said (I can't think of the word. Help me out.)

"Sigh. Fine...I'll call you Kagome."

"Maybe now we can all be more comfortable with each other. Right Toshiro?" Rangiku asked.

"Right." he responded with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

"So Kagome, how was class yesterday?" asked Rangiku hoping to make the atmosphere more relaxed.

"It was fine. I'm going over to Kurosaki-kun's tonight to listen to the Judy albums he bought." Both Toshiro and Rangiku held back their concern as best they could. They still held on to their agreement of not getting involved with Ichigo and Kagome's affairs, but they were both worried something might happen between the two.

"What time are you going over there?"

"Six. We're going to eat dinner first and then listen to the album on his dad's record player. Finally a home-cooked meal I can eat."

"What was that?" asked Rangiku with raised eyebrows and a no-you-didn't tone.

Kagome's face turned from happy to scared. She didn't know what Rangiku would do to her. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this one.

"Oh I just mean…you know…I love you." Kagome hoped her sentiment would fix her mistake. Knowing Rangiku it probably would considering the good mood she was in.

"*sigh* I love you too. Well I guess Toshiro and I will just eat without you tonight."

"You two don't need me hear tonight anyways. Have another date night."

"I guess we can do without you then. Are you sure you can't leave sooner? hehehe"

"Hahaha You're lucky I have to get ready for class. Oh and apparently Kurosaki-kun has a friend with equally weird taste in food as you. I think he said her name was Orihime."

"Never heard of her." Rangiku replied nonchalantly.

"I'd be surprised if you did." Kagome then walked to her room to get ready for class while Toshiro and Rangiku went to theirs. _'I guess I'll have to wait to take to Rangiku about Kurosaki-kun later now that Toshiro's back.'_


	11. Chapter 10

**Alright so getting these chapters proof read seems to be impossible so please excuse all the inevitable mistakes. This is a Judy heavy chapter so please bear with me. This project will soon be over. I do hope you enjoy this chapter and listen to the songs or the stories I mention. They are really good. I will post links under the respective songs and hopefully they'll work. Enjoy! Please review as well. It makes me happy and eager to continue writing on it. **

Chapter Ten

**KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK**

The sound echoed through the house alerting everyone that the special guest had arrived. The people of the house quickly finished putting all the plates and food on the table making sure everything looked neat and perfect. When everything was to his liking, Ichigo opened the door after taking a deep calming breath. However, that breath was taken away from him when he saw a raven-haired beauty standing before him. She wasn't dressed up per-say, but she had more elegant look about her than usual, a knee length flowing paisley skirt with a light brown cardigan over a white blouse and brown flats with her hair up in slightly messy pony tail along with a warm tan coat. Nothing spectacular, but on her, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Ichigo couldn't help but stare in awe as he tried to come up with something to say.

"Um, are you okay Kurosaki-kun?"

Her voice broke through his trance and Ichigo was brought back to reality. "Yeah, yeah; I'm fine," he said with some difficulty.

"So, are you going to let me in or do I have to eat on the sidewalk?"

"Oh, of course you can come in. Sorry about that. You look great by the way, Higurashi-san," he stammered as he stepped out the way to allow his guest through.

"Thank you; you look pretty good yourself," she said with a smile. _'He looks really good. He's so much more put together than usual. Nice dress pants and a button down shirt. Wait! What am I'm saying! I can't think that! I don't want to start falling for Kurosaki-kun. It's barely been a month since I broke up with Sesshomaru.'_

"Everyone's in the dinning room, are you ready to eat?" Ichigo took Kagome's coat and hung it up before leading her to the dinning room where everyone was waiting.

"Yes; I'm starving."

"Great! We've got plenty of food." When the two came to the dinning room, Ichigo's family was standing by the table dressed as nice as Ichigo. "Higurashi-san, I'd like you to meet my Dad, my sister Yuzu, and my other sister Karin."

"Wow, Ichigo, you said she was pretty, but I didn't think you meant this pretty!" exclaimed Isshin as he ran over to Kagome with wide eyes, but before he could reach her Ichigo stepped in and kicked him in the chest.

"Ugh! What was that for?" cried Isshin as he doubled over in pain on the floor.

"You can't charge at our guest! You should know that, old man!"

"Come on, Dad. Show some manners for once," said a dark haired girl with her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face.

"You're against me too, Karin?"

Kagome laughed quietly to herself as their antics reminded her of some of the arguments she and her friends got into in the Feudal Era. She found Ichigo's family to be a delight despite all the yelling and physical fighting.

"All of you stop fighting!" cried a dark blonde next to Karin. "We don't want to scare her off!"

"Sorry, Yuzu," they all replied apologetically. By then, Kagome couldn't contain her laughs anymore and everyone turned toward her confused.

"hahaha I'm sorry. hahaha" began Kagome. "You just all remind me of some friends from a long time ago. I couldn't help but laugh at the similarities and the memories. Please, forgive me."

"It's okay, Higurashi-san. As long as they're good memories," replied Ichigo kindly.

"Don't worry; they're good."

"So, shall we eat then?" asked Yuzu, much happier than a moment ago.

"Yes!" shouted everyone.

The conversation throughout dinner remained light and funny. Topics from school to friends were discussed without giving away anything supernatural. The more they talked, the more Kagome felt comfortable. She was beginning to really like Ichigo's family and started thinking about the next time she'd be able to come over. Finally during desert, the conversation turned to the reason Kagome and Ichigo were meeting.

"So, Ichigo tells me you here to listen to a record," comments Isshin towards Kagome.

"Yes, I am. We're going to listen to Judy at Carnegie Hall. First, we'll listen to the vinyl and then the CD. Apparently, there's a difference, but personally I just think Kurosaki-kun got swindled into buying more than he needed," replied Kagome with a playful sideways glance at Ichigo.

"I did not!" he shouted defensively. "Ryuu promised me he didn't swindle me. I trust him."

"Right, because you've known him for years and not just the short time in class."

"Hey, I'm usually pretty good at judging who I can trust. Doubt me if you must, but I know I wasn't taken advantage of."

"Well, the only way to solve this problem is to listen to the albums," supplied Isshin. "The record player is all set up in the sitting room. You can go on in when you're done with desert. Now, I must warn you, this album is legendary for a reason, so don't be surprised when you're blown way by Judy's power."

"You don't have to make it sound so serious, Dad," added Karin.

"But is serious. She wasn't called the World's Greatest Entertainer for nothing you know, but I'll let you two decide if she deserves that title or not. You better get to it, you've got about five hours until you're done and it's already seven." Isshin then grabbed is plate and silverware and went into the kitchen to begin cleaning.

"Geez is everyone a closet Garland fan? First Ryuu and now dad," commented Ichigo.

"Well, shall we go and hear what all the fuss is about?" asked Kagome.

"Yeah, let's go." The pair went into the sitting room and Ichigo grabbed the vinyl record to put on. The sound of pops and crackles filled the air and the anticipation grew for Kagome. Being a Garland fan herself now, she was bursting with excitement and was finding it very difficult to contain it. She and Ichigo sat next to each other on the couch, but with a respectable distance between them. After Ichigo sat down and got comfortable the applause started signifying the beginning of the greatest night in American Showbiz history.

When the applause ended the overture started. First the drums rolled, followed by the sounds of strings climbing the scales. Then more drums accompanied by blaring trumpets. Bongos began to play and the orchestra went into the first song. Kagome didn't recognize the song at first, but after looking at the album she learned it was the Trolley Song. A song she had never heard before. Even without Judy singing, the instruments made the song soar. Suddenly a trumpet was alone and went into a song she did recognize. "Over the rainbow". The strings came in and gave the song a sense of melancholy she'd never realized before. She made a mental note to really pay attention to The Wizard of Oz next time she watched it. The drums began to pound again and the brass section went into an intense passionate number. Kagome and Ichigo could feel their emotions intensify as the music went on. When it was over applause immediately erupted with people hollering and then it suddenly got louder. It was then they both realized the woman herself, Judy Garland walked out on stage. All she said before going into the first song was, "Oh my!" with a couple of claps.

/eKwDrkyE_Ac

The songs on the first record ranged from up beat swing about love and happiness to a subtle song about sex to jazz to discovering love. Things got a little tense when "How Long Has this Been Going On" began. There was tenseness in the room they both thought was coming from just them. Ichigo thought about his crush on Kagome and was hoping it wasn't noticeable and Kagome thought of her possibly growing crush on Ichigo she hopped would go away as the lyrics seemed to be about them.

"_There was a chill up my spine, and some thrills I can't define. Little wow, tell me know. How long has this been going on?"_ Judy sang in a soft vibrato as if she were singing this directly to a lover as they danced close together in a dim lighted room with candles everywhere.

Both of them pictured each other in this song. One holding the other while living the lyrics.

"_Kiss me once then once more. What a dunce I was before. What a break for heaven's sake. How long has this been going on?"_

_/RRX5c55c5oM_

Kagome bit her lip and Ichigo shifted uncomfortably in his seat avoiding eye contact with each other. When the song finally ended sighs of relief filled the room and the thoughts were unfortunately not replaced with more appropriate ones as the next song was just a jazzed up song about being alone with someone and finding ways to "entertain" each other.

As much as Kagome loved the album she wished it didn't have so many love songs in it. The next song didn't help either as it hit closer to home. The only thing worse than a love song is a song about lost love. "The Man that Got Away", Kagome's least favorite song right now.

"_The man that won you has run off an undone you. That great beginning has seen a final inning. Don't know what happened it's all a crazy game. No more that all time thrill for you've been through the mill, and never a new love will be the same."_

_/Lvl-quzGsx4_

Two different images popped into Kagome's head. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. The two men she had loved deeply who loved someone else. They both left her heartbroken and yet she still wanted to be with them. More so Inuyasha than Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was her first love, the man…er dog demon she saw herself spending the rest of her life with. He was the man that truly got away. As she relived her memories in the song a tear fell from each eye. Quickly she wiped them away hoping Ichigo didn't notice. Judy's sadness ripped through her. She felt Judy had experienced the very same thing at some point in her life.

The last song of the first album was another jazzed up song, but instead of it being about love it was about San Fransico. A song neither of them expected, but it was also a song they couldn't help but love. They could just picture Judy belting out this song and flailing her arms like she does around the stage and just pulling the audience in just to throw them back out with the powerhouse notes. Then the song ended, and applause and hollers roared and she sent them into an intermission. The first album was done.

"Wow." was all Ichigo and Kagome could say at first.

"I didn't expect to go through so many emotions so soon." commented Kagome as Ichigo was messing with the record player. "You're dad was right. I am blown away. I don't see how the other one can be better than this."

"Well there's only one way to find out." Ichigo started the second half of the album and the two were thrust into another hour and a half or so of non-stop power and emotions.

Most of the songs were slower and more subdued, but when Judy went into a torch song she let the audience have it. There was nothing stopping her. Nothing was holding her back from belting out every song with as much gusto as the one before. She was on fire and the audience both in the album and on the couch was loving every minute of it. Kagome couldn't believe what she was hearing. She noticed the audience had the utmost respect for her. It wasn't like any concert today where fans are screaming the whole time. When Judy sang they were quite until the very end. When Judy finally sang "Over the Rainbow" for one of her four encores a pen could've been heard if it was dropped. It seemed as if she took everyone's breath away. You would think it was a regular studio recording if it wasn't for the applause in the beginning and the end of the song.

Strangely enough Kagome found herself crying again at the end of "Over the Rainbow". She had no idea why either. There was nothing sad about that song, at least no reason she could think of. Ichigo looked at her worriedly and wanted to find out what was wrong so he could fix it, but when he asked about it she said it was nothing and not to worry.

The last three songs played and oddly enough the second half of the concert ended with a song about Chicago, which was sung with as much vigor as "San Fransico". Her favorite song by far was "After You've Gone". A song about the person who left the relationship being miserable because they don't have that person anymore.

"_After you've gone and left me crying. After you've gone there's no denying. You're gonna feel blue and you're gonna feel sad, you're gonna feel bad and you'll miss and you'll miss the bestest pal you ever had." _ During this song Kagome had a smug smile on her face.

/f3-EEKXO6Os

When the album was over Kagome and Ichigo sat on the couch amazed. Kagome more so than Ichigo, but that was nothing new. It seemed to her it would take Judy saving the world to impress him.

"Well that was just as good as the first half," said Kagome laying down on the couch with head near Ichigo's legs.

"Yeah it was. I liked it. I can see why it won all those Grammy's. She really is something else. Do you want to listen to the other version now?"

"Can we listen to it some other time? I'm worn out just from listening to it once. I feel emotionally and physically exhausted." she said stifling a yawn.

"Did that pretty little head just yawn?" asked a voice from behind the couch. Ichigo immediately jumped off the couch in surprise.

"What the hell are you doing behind the couch? Were you there the whole time?" he yelled at his dad loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood.

"Of course not! Just since "You go to My Head." he retaliated nonchalantly.

"That was from the first record!"

"I couldn't resist. Anyways that's not important. Higurashi-san is tired. She should stay here tonight instead of driving home."

"You can call me Kagome Kurosaki-sama. You can to Kurosaki-kun. I think we're good enough friends no to not be so formal."

"And you can just call me Mr. Kurosaki and I'm sure Ichigo wouldn't mind if you just called him by his first name. Isn't that right son?"

"Yeah I don't mind Kagome."

"So Kagome you're staying here tonight. You can sleep in Ichigo's room and he can sleep on the couch in here."

"Oh I couldn't do that Mr. Kurosaki. I don't want to put Ichigo out of his room. It's okay. I can make it home."

"Nonsense. Please stay. You can listen to the other album tomorrow."

"Dad if she doesn't want to stay she doesn't have to."

"It's no trouble. Please stay Kagome."

"No really. I can ma-"

* * *

><p>"I can't believe he talked me into this," said Kagome out loud in Ichigo's bed wearing a pair of Yuzu's pajamas.<p>

* * *

><p>"I can't believe he talked her into it," said Ichigo in his pajamas on the couch in the sitting room.<p>

* * *

><p>The morning came at a much slower pace than usual to the two young adults trying to make sense of the current situation. Kagome had no intention of sleeping over at the Kurosaki's house, but she just couldn't say no to Isshin after arguing for nearly half an hour and found herself sleeping in Ichigo's bed. Well she should've been sleeping. She kept thinking about all the feelings she had when listening to the album trying to make sense of where they came from. She didn't want to fall in love. She didn't even want to like someone. She was tired of falling hard for someone and then hitting the ground even harder once the relationship ended. This was not going over well for her.<p>

When morning finally came Kagome got up and changed back into her clothes and left Yuzu's pajamas folded on the bed neatly. After she was dressed she walked downstairs to the kitchen hoping she'd be alone. She didn't want to deal with anyone from the family first thing in the morning, but when she turned the corner into the kitchen she found Karin sitting at the table drinking orange juice and eating a rice bowl.

"Oh good morning Kurosaki-san." Kagome greeted sheepishly.

"Good morning, and you can call me Karin. I've never cared for formalities with friends."

"Okay. You can just call me Kagome then. So what are doing up so early?"

"I have practice in an hour. I like to get up early to go for a quick run. What about you?"

"Honestly, I couldn't sleep. I kept thin—wait. Did you just say you go for a run before practice even though you're just going to run when you're there?"

"Yeah." she said. "I like to get a warm up in before hand. The sooner I'm active the better."

"Right" replied Kagome a little confused. "Makes sense I guess."

"Personal preference. So you couldn't sleep last night?"

"No. It felt a little weird sleeping in Ichigo's room and in Yuzu's clothes. Ichigo and I are friends, but I don't really know him well enough to be that comfortable."

"I can understand that. Sorry about Dad practically forcing you too. He never gives up so it was kind of inevitable when he started asking."

"It's okay. I guess it's fine since Ichigo and I still have the second album to listen to. Saves me a trip." Kagome and Karin continued talking until the sound of footsteps coming from the living room interrupted them. Kagome looked over to where the noise was coming from and saw Ichigo standing in the door way rubbing the back of his head and yawning.

"Good morning." he said sleepily.

"Good Morning Ichigo." the two girls replied in unison.

"So how did you sleep Kagome? Sorry about my Dad forcing you to stay. He's to persistent for his own good." Ichigo pulled out a chair and sat between Kagome and Karin at the table.

"Well I have to get to practice. I'll see you later Ichigo. If your gone by the time I get back Kagome, it was nice meeting you. Come back sometime. I'll take you to one of my practices and you can meet the rest of the team." offered Karin with a smile as she got up and put her dishes in the dishwasher.

"Really? That would be fantastic! Thanks Karin, and it was nice meeting you too." After Karin finished with her dishes she grabbed her soccer gear by the door and headed out saying bye one more time.

"So Kagome how'd you sleep?" Ichigo asked again.

"Oh…I slept okay I guess. Honestly it was a little weird sleeping in your bed and in Yuzu's pajama's."

"Yeah sorry about that. Like I said before my dad is pretty persistent. There's really no refusing him when he gets that way."

"It's okay. Saves me a trip down here anyways. We still have another album to listen too."

"Oh yeah, that's right. We can listen to it after breakfast. Have you eaten yet?"

"No I haven't."

"Do you want cereal or rice or a grapefruit or all three or anything really?"

"I'll have some cereal."

"Okay cereal it is." Ichigo got everything out and prepared breakfast for him and Kagome. A small gesture, but still something he hoped she'd appreciate about him. He and Kagome ate breakfast with some conversation, but still with some silence as usual. When they were finished Ichigo put the dishes in the dishwasher and the two moved to the living room to begin listening to the second version of Judy at Carnegie Hall.

"This better be worth it," mumbled Ichigo as he was putting the CD in the CD player. Just as with the first one the Overture started with the same applause and music going into the first song and Judy saying, "Oh my."

"I don't hear a difference yet," commented Ichigo.

"Just give it time. It's only been two songs," chided Kagome. So Ichigo sat on the couch with his head back and eyes closed completely disinterested in listening to the same thing twice. The lack of sleep making him a little more irritable than usual. Then when the applause ended after the third song something that he hadn't heard before began playing. Judy started talking.

'_I a…I'm so excited my goodness. I just got back, well not actually just got back. I got back about three months ago from Europe, and I did a tour on the continent and I went to Paris and I'd never worked in Paris before. And I have a friend in Paris. A woman who is so chic, she's so chic you can't stand it. (Audience laughs) She's a darling marvelous woman, but she's so chic. (More audience laughter) Anyway, she said you must go see my hairdresser because obviously you need somebody. (Audience laughs) So she arranged for me to go to this marvelous Parisian fellow who is just supposed to be the end you know. And he came in and took one look at me and looked quite discouraged. (Audience laughs) And he said the first thing we must do is you must look nothing nothing like Judy Garland, nothing like yourself and I said, "don't you think I should look a little like…" "NO!", he said, "No that'll be disastrous. We'll change you completely." (Audience laughs throughout) So the night of the performance he came back stage and he had about nine assistants you know. And they just clipped at my hair. It just got taller and taller and really it was about to here with great big things out here. Spit Curls we used to call them in my day. I think they have a new new name for it now. And and I looked very strange. I looked like an overweight Bellasiango(I'm not really sure what she says with that word) model or something. And I came out for the concert that night and I walked out balancing my hair. And when I work I get very warm as you can see. I just really get so hot. And I started to sing and I started to get warm and my hair started to fall. And it got lower; it was Neanderthal with all the lacquer running down the spit curls it was terrible.'_

_/_JaQHR6e5rU_

Both Kagome and Ichigo were laughing at Judy's story and instantly realized why this version is better and why the concert is legendary.

"No wonder this concert is no amazing. I hope she tells more stories," said Kagome in between her laughing.

The concert went on with more commentary from Judy. She talked about a striptease tempo and joking about it not looking right in Carnegie Hall. She messed with the orchestra members and told more stories. The audience ate it up and laughter filled the air. She told two major stories and the rest were little comments here and there. Not only was she a phenomenal singer, but also she was a great storyteller. One of the reasons she was such a beloved entertainer. A couple of hours went on with Kagome and Ichigo enjoying the stories and the music. At the end Kagome was once again laying on the couch with her head close to Ichigo. A position she always takes when sitting on the couch. Ichigo stayed in the same spot but enjoyed the closeness of their bodies even though they weren't touching.

"Okay," began Ichigo once the album was done, "that was pretty amazing. I think it's a lot better than the first version just because of the stories. I didn't realize how funny she actually was."

"I know what you mean," agreed Kagome, "I haven't really looked into anything like that. I just figured she mostly did music. I've been meaning to look up interviews and stuff like that, but I haven't gotten around to it. I've been to busy."

"Yeah same here, except I haven't really wanted to do any further research on her. She seems to be more your thing. So what was you're favorite story?"

"Um…I'd say the one she tells about arriving in the London and that two-faced journalist totally making fun of her in her column after being a suck-up to her. How can someone write, _Judy Garland arrives in London. She's not chubby. She's not plump. She's fat._ I mean really! That was just horrible!" ranted a very frustrated Kagome. Ichigo began to laugh at her frustration and how intensely she talked about it.

"Then she goes on to say, _She's jolly then I've ever seen her and when she throws her head back her chins joggle happily._ _Her teeth are crooked but I think they're her own._ It's so awful but so funny."

"I love how she can laugh about it so easily. Celebrities now a day would have a fit and force it to be changed and they'd feel as if they're careers will be ruined by it. Celebrities today need to learn how to laugh at themselves and what happens. They should take a lesson from Judy."

"I totally agree. So what else do we have to do on this project?"

"I think we just have to narrow down all of our information and just concentrate on the most important stuff. How much longer do we have until it's due?"

"It's due in December, so just a little over a month I guess. We can get it finished by then."

"Yeah we can, but lets take a break for a week. I'm getting burned out with it. I need to rest my brain and let it recharge."

"Good idea. I'm honestly tired of this project, but it hasn't been horrible." Ichigo looked down at Kagome, who was still lying on her back with her head near Ichigo, and smiled at her. Kagome slightly blushed and immediately looked away to hide her the red on her face that insisted on staying.

'_His eyes are so brown and deep; I never realized how brown they were until now. They're so different from golden amber.'_ she thought to herself as she pushed herself up and into a sitting position on the couch.

"Uh…so what do you want to do now?" asked Ichigo nervously.

"What time is it?" Kagome took out her phone and looked at her watch. It was around noon and she had nowhere to go. "Oh I have to get going actually. I have class in two hours. I need to get home and get ready." Kagome quickly got up and started looking around for things that weren't there.

"Oh okay. I guess we can do something another time." he said as he got up as well and nervously rubbed the back of his head in disappointment.

"Yeah maybe. My stuff is upstairs still. I'll be right back."

"Okay." Kagome went up stairs and after she was out of sight Ichigo grabbed a pillow and growled into it out of frustration. _'I totally ruined it,'_ he thought, _'It was because I smiled at her. She blushed and now suddenly she has to leave. Ugh!' _Ichigo continued to growl into the pillow until he heard her coming down the stairs. Instantly he threw the pillow down on the couch and sat down nonchalantly and tapped the armrest with his fingers as if he'd been sitting there waiting the whole.

"Alright I guess I'll be going then. Thanks for letting me come over and listen to the records Ichigo. I think they'll help with our presentation a lot."

"It was no problem. I'm glad you could come over." They both stood in awkward silence for a minute until Ichigo finally came to his senses again." Oh let me walk you to the door."

"Thanks." The pair walked the short distance to the door and began an awkward goodbye.

"Thanks again Ichigo. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Right. See you in class." Ichigo made a miniscule move for a hug or even a handshake, but thought better of it considering how their goodbye was going. He wasn't sure if Kagome noticed or not, but she turned around and walked off towards her car on the side of the street. He watched her walk away and drive away all the while he mentally kicked himself for possibly screwing things up again. When she was out of sight he went back into the house and closed the door with one last word. "Damn."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note **The last video is all the stories Judy tells during the concert. I find them to be hilarious and I hope you do too. Please let me know what you think of the chapter or Judy or both. I'd love to hear your comments. :)


	12. AN

**A/N: I know I know. It's been months since I've updated and you're probably not fond of this authors note. Don't worry. A chapter is after this one. I suppose I should explain myself. I got swamped with work, school, a play I was in and also did stage work and advertising for, and kick ball practice. I play in an adult kickball. Laugh if you must, but my team, the Ball Busters are 2012 Spring Champions! :D Then I did something stupid and encrypted my stories so no one else could get them. Of course I forgot my password to get to them and couldn't write on TBIYTC at all. I reset everything and lost all of my files, but thanks to a friend I got them back. So now I can continue and give you the next chapter. **

**Brief summary of where I left off. Kagome just left Ichigo's after listening to the Judy albums at his house. If you haven't listened to any of the songs I listed in the story you should. Judy's one of the great legends for a reason people. **

**Enjoy the next chapter! :D Please review! **


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"Rangiku!" Kagome yelled and half wined when she walked into the apartment. She was, however, met with no answer. "Rangiku!" she yelled again. When she turned the corner in the hallway about to yell for her friend again she nearly ran into Toshiro.

"She's not here. She's at school, which is where you should be isn't it?" he replied condescendingly as per his usual tone.

"Noooooo…ugh! I need to talk to her now," she cried as she slammed her back against the wall in frustration.

"I'm sure whatever it is it can wait. She'll be home later tonight."

"But I need to talk about it now. It's going to drive me crazy if I don't."

Toshiro sighed. He knew the only way to get her to stop wining was to figure out why. Despite his better judgment he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I think I'm starting to like Ichigo, but I really don't want to. I'm not ready to go through this again, but the feelings are starting to creep in and I know I'm going to fall hard for him. I always do." Kagome didn't even care that she was talking to Toshiro. She needed to get everything out and if Toshiro was going to ask she was going to let everything out.

"That's all?" he asked a little annoyed at the problem being so small and unimportant.

"What do you mean that's all?! This is a big deal! I can't fall for him! I can't fall in love again! I can't handle that right now," she yelled back at him.

"Why do you think you're falling for him? Perhaps you're misinterpreting your feelings."

"Well he's such a gentleman. He bends over backwards for me. He's given me gifts, treated me to dinner, and done extra work on our project because I got mad at him for not doing anything. He has the deepest brown eyes and his smile lights up in them when he means it. He's so sweet too."

"He sounds like a good guy, but maybe you're just seeing what a good friend he can be. It is possible to just be friends with a guy. So don't immediately think you're falling for him."

"Do you really think that's it? I'm just seeing him as a friend?"

"Yes that's what I think."

"I hope you're right. Thanks Toshiro. You know this is the longest we've talked since…ever. It's kind of nice."

"Well don't get used to it," he said as he walked off towards the kitchen leaving Kagome sitting on the floor against the wall.

"Sigh. Well it's better than nothing I suppose. Kagome got up and walked to her room to get ready for school. She got what she needed and hopped into the shower relishing every droplet of hot water hitting her skin and washing away all of her problems for that brief time.

0.o

"Where is she?" Ichigo asked himself as class was starting. He looked over towards the door again hoping Kagome would walk through and sit down next to him. He tried texting her couple of times before class started but to no avail. Kagome hadn't texted and now it was to late. Sensei had started calling roll so if she showed up she wouldn't be allowed in.

The class dragged on at a slow pace. Ichigo couldn't help but fidget with his pencil as he waited for class to be over. By the end it had bite marks all over it from tip to eraser. Kagome's absence made him very agitated. Being the protector that he is Ichigo naturally worried something might have happened to her. Of course the likely hood of her being attacked by a Hollow was very slim, but her lack of response to his texts made him nervous none-the-less.

The minutes ticked by slower and slower. It seemed like eternity when Sensei finally dismissed the class for the day, but before Ichigo could slip out the door he was called to the front. Ichigo reluctantly obliged.

"Where is Higurashi-san this afternoon?" asked Sensei when Ichigo reached the desk.

"I don't know," replied Ichigo quickly. "She hasn't answered any of my texts."

"Well hopefully nothing is wrong. It's not like Higurashi-san to miss class. Check up on her if she still doesn't answer. You may go Kurosaki-kun." Sensei waved Ichigo off and began looking over his lesson plan.

Ichigo left the classroom and immediately got out his cell phone to check if Kagome and texted back. Still nothing. "Damn it!" he yelled as he walked out to the quad. Everyone around him looked at him but after realizing he's the guy who has these sorts of outbursts often everyone just went back to what they were doing. "I can't check up on her since I don't know where she lives. Maybe she just had a family emergency or something. I'll just leave her alone. Maybe she'll text back when she can." Ichigo paced a spot in the quad back and forth trying to figure out what to do.

Slowly Ichigo was becoming known as the crazy guy with fiery orange hair. Suddenly stopping mid-pace Ichigo looked up as he came to a realization. "What the hell am I doing?! This isn't me. I don't pace back and forth wondering if someone is okay just because I haven't heard from her after a few hours. This is not Ichigo Kurosaki." he said to himself louder than intended. Now everyone in the quad was looking at him as if he was insane. Ichigo looked at everyone a little embarrassed. Slowly he turned and started walking away form everyone and towards the parking lot. "I really have to stop talking to myself." he said aloud again. After he realized what he did Ichigo face-palmed and continued walking.

When Ichigo got home his father immediately confronted him with an attempted roundhouse kick to the head. Naturally Ichigo dodged and continued into the kitchen for some food.

"That's my boy Ichigo! Always be on your toes and ready to dodge." praised Isshin as he brushed off the dust from his shirt and pants.

"I don't really have to when I know you're going to do it every time I enter a room with you in it." Ichigo deadpanned.

"So how was class? Did Kagome enjoy Carnegie Hall?"

"Class was fine. Kagome wasn't there, but she loved the concert. I wouldn't be surprised if she went out and bought herself a copy." _'Maybe that's where she went.'_

"She wasn't in class! Is she okay? Have you talked to her? Oh I hope my poor little Kagome is okay and not hurt," wailed Isshin as hounded Ichigo with questions.

"Calm down Dad. I'm sure she's fine. She's twenty-two years old. I'm sure she can take care of herself." The orange haired teenager gulped down the drink he took from the fridge to hide how worried he was about Kagome not twenty minutes ago.

"I guess you're right" sighed Isshin as he sat down at the table. "I just can't bare the thought of anything happening to poor sweet Kagome. "

"Oh shut up." Ichigo grabbed some food out of the fridge and headed upstairs to his room. He sat at his desk, grabbed his headphones, turned on some music, and ate while he surfed the Internet.

0.o

Kagome awoke sprawled out halfway on the bed. At first she was very confused. She didn't remember falling asleep. Somehow only her upper torso was lying on the bed and her legs were hanging over the edge and for some reason she was wearing only a towel. When she moved she could feel and hear her knees creak. "Ow!" Why the hell did I sleep like this?! And why am I in just a towel!" she yelled not caring who heard.

When she was finally on the bed Kagome flung back in frustration. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand to look at the time. It was after five and she two messages from Ichigo. When she saw his name she realized she missed class. Feeling bad she texted him back apologizing for missing class because she fell asleep. With the text sent Kagome lay back down on the bed and sighed. She slept for at least five hours if not more. She felt rested but annoyed. How was she supposed to get sleep tonight?

Before she could even mull over how she was going to sleep the door busted open. "Are you okay? I heard you scream." asked the busty blonde very concerned.

"That was five minutes ago." said Kagome a little annoyed at how long it took her friend to respond.

"Hey I came didn't I?"

"I could be dead right now. You could've saved me if you didn't take five minutes."

"Oh please. You wouldn't be de.."

"Nope I'm dead and it's all your fault. How does that make you feel knowing I'm dead because of you?"

"It makes me feel like it's time to go shopping! But first you need to get out of that towel and into some actual clothes. There is no way I'm going out in public with you wearing that." Rangiku looked Kagome up and down and shook her head disapprovingly.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at her best friend. The banter between her and Rangiku always put her in a better mood. Shopping usually helps too. Rangiku climbed up on the bed and lid her head on Kagome's shoulder. "So shopping?" she asked wide-eyed.

"For what?"

"For our Halloween costumes of course! Halloween's this weekend and we have parties to go to!"

"Oh right! Might as well. We can't go to a party without a costume after all." Kagome smiled and Rangiku jumped out of bed ready to go. After Kagome got dressed and got the kinks out of her body the two headed to the strip mall for some much needed retail therapy.

The street glowed in neon colors and the varied smells of the restaurants filled the air and made Kagome every hungry. She hadn't eaten since breakfast and that unfortunately was nearly twelve hours ago. Well more like nine, but who cares when food is on the brain.

"We should get something to eat before we look for costumes." Suggested Kagome while patting her stomach.

"Okay!" agreed Rangiku readily. Food was exactly what she needed to. With midterms coming up Rangiku had been working day and night on her line of clothes she had to present. Food hadn't fit into her schedule very much in the last few days.

"I'm in the mood for a burger. How about you?"

"That and a milkshake," added Rangiku. "Lets find a WacDonalds."

The two girls set out to a WacDonalds as if their life depended on it. After searching for twenty minutes the pair found one and relished every bite of their food.

"What costumes are we looking for?" asked Kagome between bites of her burger.

"I'm going to be a sexy witch and I think you said you were going to be a priestess," said Rangiku with a mouth full of fries and milkshake.

"Oh yeah that's right. I can carry my bow and arrows with me. It's been years since I've picked it up and used it."

"You know you can't exactly use it right?"

"Yes I know I can't use it," replied Kagome matter-of-factly. "I wish I had a place to use it though. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my body just thinking about it." Kagome then drifted off into space thinking about all of her battles in the feudal era. She never felt so alive as when she saw her arrows pierce her enemy and watched the demon turn to dust and disappear in the wind.

While Kagome daydreamed Rangiku wondered if she'd be able to sneak her friend into the training area under Urhaha's shop. The more she thought the less likely it seemed. There's always someone watching the shop and one of her fellow Shinigami's tended to be training every hour of the day. Rangiku sighed in defeat before taking a ship of her shake.

"Are you okay?" asked Kagome. She looked at her friend worriedly. Had something happened between her and Toshiro?

"I'm fine," replied Rangiku cheerfully. "Are you ready to go and find our costumes?"

"Absolutely!" yelled Kagome gleefully and just a little to loudly. For the next few hours the two searched every store possible for a suitable costume. All of them were packed with other last minute shoppers looking for the perfect one. With hours of searching behind them the search seemed futile. Not a single costume peaked their interest. Nothing was authentic for a priestess and Rangiku couldn't find anything to fit over her breasts.

"Looks like I'll have to make them." confirmed Rangiku in a somber tone. When they reached the car she laid her head back and sighed in defeat once again. "We only have a few days until Halloween and I still have to finish my spring line for my midterms next week." she said mostly to herself. For a few minutes Rangiku just sat in silence with her eyes closed mentally giving herself a pep talk. There was no way Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto was going to be defeated by midterms or a costume. With new resolve she turned on the car and sped down the road. "Alright I need fabric, new needles and thread, and lots of energy drinks. "

"Rangiku what's gotten into you?" asked Kagome smiling and trying to hold onto the "oh shit" bar above her window. She liked seeing the fire in her friend's eyes: the determination to get anything done no matter what. For someone so lazy Rangiku was determined to get everything done.

Once they got home from the store Rangiku closed the door to her workroom and began working immediately.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" asked Kagome hopefully through the door.

Rangiku opened the door with needles sticking out of her mouth and a puzzled look on her face. "Don't you have midterms to study for too?" she asked with a nearly closed mouth so the needles wouldn't fall out.

"What?" Kagome looked as puzzled as Rangiku until it all dawned on her. "Oh no! I haven't studied anything at all! I've been to focused on this project." she hung her head in shame and face-palmed. Finally she ran to her room and threw her book bag on her bed. She barely heard Rangiku tell her all of the energy drinks were in the fridge. Kagome was solely focused on cramming everything in. _'I guess old habits never die'_ she thought to herself with a sad laugh. The next few days she realized were gong to be brutal.

0.o

With several hours of mindless Internet searching and listening to music Ichigo stretched in his chair and let out a contented sigh. He hadn't thought about Kagome since he went up to his room and he was glad of it. She had consumed too much of his time and thoughts. Still he didn't mind the thought of her. He did think she was beautiful and one of the most amazing girls he had ever met, but they were just friends and it seemed things would stay that way. So with his mindless fun Ichigo decided it was time for some mindless drinking and maybe a little more adult fun later if he was lucky.

He hopped in the shower for a quick scrub down before changing his clothes to his nicer outfits and headed to the bar he used to frequent when he was with Rukia. Granted the bar didn't have to many fond memories, but he hadn't seen Renji in a while. After all he and Renji are friends…somewhat. With his hair styled as only it can be styled and his best on the town clothes on Ichigo headed out the door ready to party and keep his mind off Kagome.

When he walked in the bar Ichigo was immediately overcome by the smell of sake and smoke in the air. A smell he didn't realized he missed until now. Once his senses were accustomed to polluted air Ichigo looked around the bar and then made his way to the counter and sat a few chairs over from where Renji was standing.

At first Renji didn't notice Ichigo despite the fiery orange-hair. Renji hadn't seen Ichigo in quit a while and was glad of the company. He had missed his friend, but he hadn't missed the sulking his friend always did. He hopped with everything he had that Ichigo hadn't come into sulk again. Much to his pleasure Renji was surprised to find Ichigo in a good mood.

"Hey Renji, what's up? It's been too long." Ichigo said happily as he situated himself into a more comfortable position on the stool.

"Well if it isn't Ichigo Kurosaki. I haven't seen you in a while or in a good mood. What brings you in here?"

"Oh you know, just ready for a night of fun. Thought I'd stop by and grab a drink with an old friend. Care to join me?"

"It would be my pleasure." Renji grabbed two bottles of beer from under the counter and popped the caps before placing them on the counter. They both grabbed one and said, "_kampai_" before drinking. The two friends talked for a good hour as they drank and Renji served his customers when necessary. During their conversation Ichigo learned that Rukia and Renji were now sharing the apartment together as roommates. Renji wanted something more between him and Rukia, but she was still hung up on Ichigo. She didn't sulk around the apartment as she used to, but she wasn't her normal pushy bossy self like everyone was used to. Ichigo felt a little bad for her, but he knew she would be herself soon and hopefully she'd see the great guy Renji is and be with him. If he could make it out of the friend-zone with her then Renji definitely could.

With two beers down and the bar getting a little busier Ichigo said goodbye to his friend and headed out to a local club called Air.

With a ¥3000 cover charge Ichigo entered the club to the sound of J-pop playing over the speakers. The dance floor was covered with people dancing and grinding and groping. It had been a long time since Ichigo had been to a club and he knew tonight was going to be an interesting night.

Before going to the dance floor Ichigo decided he needed another drink, something a little stronger this time. With his drink in hand he made his way to the lounge area and found an available seat. He sipped on his drink and bobbed his head to the music and looked around at all the people having fun. He was so absorbed in everything going on around him he didn't even notice someone sit on the couch a few spaces away from him. It wasn't until the mystery person slowly started moving closer that he noticed a very attractive young woman about his age sitting next to him.

At first he just looked over at the person sliding towards him and then looked back to the crowd, but he quickly turned back towards the person as his mind registered what he saw. Sitting next to Ichigo was a thin brunette with a decent sized chest wearing a purple cocktail dress with black high heels. Her hair was long and had side wept bangs going along her left eye. Her earrings dangled halfway down her neck and her makeup shone in the neon lights. She was one of the most attractive girls Ichigo had ever seen and he wanted to get to every part of her before the night was over.

Ichigo adjusted himself on the couch to face the girl sitting beside him. He wanted a better look and to be able to talk to her face to face. Nervously Ichigo took a sip of his drink and then cleared his throat.

"Hi, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo." he said before bowing his head out of respect.

"I'm Mori Hisako." she replied while bowing her head.

"Secret huh. That's an interesting name. Do you have secrets?

"Doesn't everybody?" said Hisako seductively. She liked her upper lip and ate the cherry from her martini. She finished off her seduction with a wink as she took a sip from her drink. Ichigo was getting all hot and bothered with no interest in talking anymore. He gulped down the rest of his drink and got up.

"Want to dance?" he asked with a hand extended to help her off she couch. Hisako finished the rest of her drink quickly and grabbed Ichigo's hand. The pair made their way to the dance floor and began sawing to the music getting closer and closer to each other each second. By the middle of the song the two were close enough to kiss, but instead they swayed to the music and rubbed each other's arms and upper torso. However, it didn't take long before Ichigo and Hisako were discovering how much they wanted each other. His lips met hers and before he knew it he was lost in her kiss and in the lust he had for her. When the two finally needed air they decided to go check out the VIP room upstairs and grab another drink. Ichigo wasn't sure if he'd be able to get in, but he sure as hell was going to try.

When they reached the VIP room the bouncer immediately let them in without any question. At first Ichigo thought it was because he looked that good and gave off the impression like he belonged there, but as they were walking in the bouncer bowed to Hisako and greeted her as a friend. Ichigo tried not to take it to hard. He figured his pride shouldn't be hurt just because this girl is at the club enough to get into the VIP room with no problem.

Before they even sat down a waiter came to take their drink order. They both ordered the same drink as before and sat down in a far booth away from everyone else. Ichigo broke the silence first.

"So I guess you come her often huh?"

"Actually I don't come here all that often. I guess you could say I have connections." Hisako smiled mischievously as she crossed her legs and made sure her dress covered as much as she wanted to, which wasn't much at all.

"I'd say you have very good connections if you can get into the VIP room of one of the hottest clubs in Tokyo." he could tell she wasn't telling him everything, then again her name does mean secret. So he decided to let it go. It's not as if he planned on seeing her again after tonight.

The two talked a little more as they sipped on their drinks, but it wasn't to long after their drinks were done they continued their search of each others bodies and lips. When things started to get a little to hot and heavy for public Hisako suggested they head back to her place. Ichigo readily agreed and before to long they were crashing through Hisako's door to her apartment practically tearing each other's clothes off.

Ichigo released Hisako of her tight dress with no issues despite it being awhile since his last rendezvous with anyone. He shed his shoes and socks while he stripped off her dress. She helped him unbuckle his belt and pull down his fitting jeans without breaking the kiss. The pair landed on the bed with a thud. Ichigo threw off his jacket and Hisako lifted his shirt over his head. Now both of them had nothing on but their underwear.

Before continuing they drank each other in each one marveling at each other's bodies. Ichigo with his chiseled muscles and rock hard abs and Hisako with her hourglass figure and toned stomach. With both satisfied with each other their underwear was off in seconds. The two naked bodies intertwined in the sheets the movements getting faster and faster. Neither one could contain themselves and when it was over the pair was too exhausted to move.

"Wow! That was…wow." Hisako lie on the bed trying to catch her breath. She hadn't been so exhausted after sex in a long time. "Either you had something to prove or you just really needed to get laid."

"Hehehe I guess you can chalk it up to just needing to get laid. It's amazing how little sex you can have when you don't have a girlfriend anymore." Ichigo joked as he caught his breath as well.

"Ah so you've just got out of relationship. I can understand your need. It's even worse when it was a long term relationship with someone you've known for years and just naturally fell in love with them."

"Yeah tell me about it. Sounds like you and I are in similar situations."

"Seems that way Kurosaki, seems that way."

Before more could be said Ichigo and Hisako fell asleep. Out of instinct Ichigo took Hisako into his arms as they drifted into a blissful deep sleep.


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Ichigo awoke the next morning to the smell of breakfast. He was momentarily confused as he looked around the room he was in. He didn't recognize it at all and was starting to inwardly freak out. He was even more confused when he pulled the covers off of him and found he was naked. Quickly Ichigo got out of the bed and gathered up his clothes. Just as quickly he pulled his underwear on and started to pull his pants on. Midway a girl opened the door dressed in just a silk robe barely covering her up at all. Ichigo fell over onto the floor from being startled by her entrance. When he got up and looked at her the memories from the night before came flooding back to him.

"Hisako?" he asked somewhat unsure.

"Good morning Ichigo. Don't remember me already? Guys usually wait a few days before they decide they don't know me." she replied playfully with a hint of hurt.

"No, no I do remember you. I was just a little confused when I woke up. That's all." Ichigo finished pulling his pants on and walked over to Hisako still shirtless. Hisako looked him up and down but mostly stared at his chest as he walked over. She bit her lip trying to hold back her urge to jump him then and there. Ichigo caressed her cheek and looked into her eyes. "I remember everything about last night and it was wonderful," he whispered before gently laying his lips on hers.

"I think you should have waited to put those pants back on Kurosaki." Hisako grabbed at Ichigo's belt and waited a few seconds for him to stop her. When he didn't she unbuckled the belt and slid his pants and boxers down to the ground. She pushed him pack until he fell onto the bed and did the same after she took her robe off reveling she was wearing nothing underneath. Once again they found themselves exploring each other's body. This time after finishing the pair got dressed and went into the kitchen to eat their breakfast. Lucky for them it was finished when Hisako went into the room and was only cold and not burnt. Neither one cared as they ate and talked and got to know each other a little bit more. Before Ichigo left he and Hisako exchanged numbers and planned to see each other this weekend at her Halloween party.

0.o

"I'm finally done." said Rangiku to herself as she slumped down in her chair completely exhausted. She had worked for nearly two days straight. Only sleeping for a few hours at a time and eating when she felt she was going to faint. The redbull certainly helped her maintain her pace and the fished product was a new spring line and two Halloween costumes that didn't leave much to imagination. She was quite proud of herself and to celebrate she went into her room and immediately crashed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Kagome finally came out of her room after a similar pace to Rangiku. With exams the next week Kagome had a major cram session in order to get as much information in her brain as she could. With any luck it would actually stick. For now she had done enough studying as she possibly could before going insane with all of the medical terms and pop culture references. So she decided to go talk to her best friend and maybe go out on the town for some fun. Kagome gently rapped on Rangiku's door but all she heard on the other side was snoring. She opened the door a crack just to make sure Rangiku wasn't lying on her boobs and nearly suffocating. She had a tendency to do that, especially when drunk. Satisfied with Rangiku's well being Kagome quietly walked back to her room and plopped onto the bed.

'_Maybe I'll just stay in tonight and watch a movie.'_ she thought to herself. It was only about 5:00 pm on a Friday night. A movie and an early evening is exactly what she felt she needed so she'd be rested and ready to party the next night. So she got up and went into the living room to watch a movie. Unfortunately for her Toshiro was in the living room too. They may have had an actual decent conversation the other day, but things were still the same between them. Just as cold as ever Toshiro didn't even acknowledge Kagome when she sat down on the couch and couple of spaces away from him. She rolled her eyes and sighed silently in her head. If he wasn't going to start a conversation then she would.

"So what are you going to be for Halloween?" she asked hesitantly.

"Nothing." replied Toshiro while staring at the TV not even giving Kagome a glance.

"Why not? Aren't you going to party with us tomorrow night?"

"No." he simply stated. "I have no interest in celebrating this ridiculous holiday you humans have of dressing up in silly costumes and getting wasted just for the hell of it."

"It's not all about that. You can scare people too," she said matter-of-factly.

"It's still a wasteful holiday. Don't you have exams to study for? Should you really be partying?"

"I've been studying for two days straight. I'm done studying until Sunday." Kagome rested her head on her arm, which was resting on the armrest and she pulled her legs up on the couch to her side. She was content until she suddenly realized she had missed class earlier and had no idea what time her exam was. Feeling stupid Kagome reluctantly texted Ichigo to ask him. Within a few minutes he replied simply stating it was at 1:00 in the afternoon on Monday. Kagome said thanks and didn't receive a reply. She felt it was a little odd, but didn't think much of it. If he didn't want to talk to her any that was his business. This is what she wanted after all, right? If they don't talk much there's no chance of her falling for him. Yet, she still felt a small pang of sadness deep down. Ignoring it she continued to watch TV with Toshiro for a few hours before heading to bed.

0.o

"So what do you think?" Asked the blonde girl to the dark haired girl.

"Don't you think it's a to revealing for a costume Rangiku?" the girl asked back.

"Nothing is ever to revealing. It looks great on you Kagome." encouraged Rangiku happily. The costume was a simple white and red. The shirt had a plunging neckline, which barely kept in Kagome's well-endowed chest. Her chest was nowhere near the size of Rangiku's but Kagome was still the envy of most girls. The sleeves barely covered her shoulder and had the stitching going down vertically like a real priestess outfit. The red skirt covered just enough. Kagome was even able to bend over a little without revealing too much. She was at least glad Rangiku had to decency to make the skirt not too short. Still she was apprehensive about wearing it.

"I guess it'll work. Shall we head to the party then?" Kagome asked with uncertainty.

"Absolutely!" shouted Rangiku. She was already wearing her costume and it didn't leave much to the imagination. It was black with a little glitter here and there to make it shine just right in the light. It barely covered her butt and her boobs were nearly popping out, but that was how Rangiku liked her clothes. The sleeves were non-existent and the next line was like a heart over the top of her breasts with a slit going down the middle almost to her ribcage. The skirt part of the dress was a little frilly and with pieces of fabric placed loosely on top of other pieces to give the appearance of it being ripped.

"Where are we going anyways?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Club Air downtown. I know the owners daughter. We had a few classes together and went clubbing all the time. You would know her too if you ever went with us." Rangiku added playfully as she adjusted Kagome's costume a little.

"You say that like I missed out."

"You did miss out, but now's you're chance to make up for it. Lets go." Kagome grabbed her quiver and her bow strapping it to her back. She knew she wouldn't be able to use them, but she felt it completed the costume. The two girls stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room where Toshiro was watching TV and eating ice cream.

"Well what do you think Toshi?" asked Rangiku hoping to see Toshiro's eyes pop out of his head at the sight of her luscious body and barely there costume.

Toshiro looked over at Rangiku. His eyes might not have bugged out of his head, but he did manage to drop is spoon into his bowl with his jaw hanging open. After a few seconds of silence and staring he regained his composure and looked back at the TV.

"You look like a slut." he said emotionless.

"Do you really think so Toshi?!" Rangiku said happily. She wasn't expecting him to say she was beautiful or anything like that. Being called a slut was good enough for her. She wanted her costume to turn him on and by the look that was on his face she did just that. With that she knew what to expect when she got home. Now all she had to do was to find a way for Kagome not to come home with her.

Toshiro didn't answer so Rangiku and Kagome walked out the door ready to party the night way.

0.o

Ichigo finished touching up his face paint and readjusted his costume to fit better. You could barely tell it was him. He looked like a real skeleton all except his orange hair, which he then covered up with the head part of his costume.

Before heading over to the party Ichigo stopped by Hisako's place to pick her up. Tonight she was his date and ticket into the party. It was at her fathers club so they didn't need an invitation like everyone else. Hisako answered the door in a leather cat suit complete with mask.

"Cat Woman I'm guessing." said Ichigo when he saw her.

"Skeleton man I see. "

"Yep. Great isn't it? No one will know it's me with my hair and face covered."

"Don't want anyone to know it's you just in case."

"Yeah. I just want to be focused on you and having fun. Not trying to catch up with old friends. Ready to go?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Hisako kissed Ichigo gently on the lips as she closed the door behind her. The pair walked hand in hand back to his car.

0.o

Club Air was packed with people waiting in line at the door. The line almost went to the end of the street. People would have to wait in line for hours to even think about getting in. When Kagome saw this she was very surprised. To her it was a lost cause to get into this party. Well it would be without Rangiku's connections.

"Are you sure we can get in?" asked Kagome apprehensively.

"Of course we can. I have our invitations," said Rangiku reassuringly as she help up the two pieces of paper allowing them into the hottest Halloween party in Tokyo.

"How did you get those?" Kagome nearly shouted loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

"I told you. I know the owners daughter. She gave them to me." The two walked up to the bouncer and Rangiku handed him the invitations. The bouncer looked at them carefully and let them in. The people waiting in line started yelling at the man. He just ignored them and welcomed the girls into the club.

When the door opened music blasted into their ears. There were people everywhere dressed up in numerous costumes. Some slutty, some scary, some even out of the ordinary.

"Here put this on." Rangiku handed Kagome a mask and then put on her own.

"Why?"

"It's a masquerade party." Kagome put hers on like she was asked and followed Rangiku so she wouldn't get lost. First Rangiku led them to the bar to get a couple of drinks for them. With drinks in hand the pair headed to the dance floor. Rangiku was ready to go, but Kagome was a little hesitant and stayed by the tables. Finding an empty one she sat down and placed her bow and quiver beside her on the table. Kagome wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere. She was out of her element and a little nervous. She almost downed her drink in a couple of gulps before she remembered she was drinking alcohol and not a coke.

"You better slow down or you'll be drunk sooner than you need to be."

"Why aren't you dancing?"

"Well I don't want to go out there without my best friend. It's no fun without you," answered Rangiku.

"You're lying but thank you. This is just so weird for me. I don't know what to do out there," said Kagome gesturing towards the dance floor.

"All you have to do is just go with the music and move your hips. You don't have to do anything crazy."

"I don't know. It's still weird."

"Alright we'll chill here for a little bit until you get your courage up. I'll get us a couple of more drinks." Rangiku got up and went back to the bar. Kagome finished her drink and looked out at all the people having fun. She wondered to herself why she couldn't be as care free as them and just dance. She felt so confined and conservative compared to them. She could slay demons no problem, but getting out on a dance floor. For get it.

0.o

Ichigo and Hisako came back down from the VIP room to the first floor to see how the rest of the party was going. When getting in Ichigo figured out how Hisako got in so easily. It apparently pays to be the owner's daughter. Hisako grabbed Ichigo's hand and dragged him to the dance floor. Ichigo had no qualms and he held her close as they danced to the music. They danced; they drank, and then danced some more. The night was going smoothly and they were enjoying each other's company, but eventually Hisako and to make her rounds and talk to some friends she found. While she was doing this Ichigo made his way back to the bar for another drink. He was already pretty inebriated, but he didn't care. He was having too much fun.

Ichigo looked around the room and spotted a girl sitting alone at the table. There were two drinks on the table but no one else was to be seen. Being the curious and drunk person he was Ichigo sat down at the table in front of the girl.

"Where's your date?" he asked after taking a sip of his drink. The girl looked a little startled, but not scared by the sudden appearance of the stranger.

"I don't have a date," she answered slowly after taking in the person before her.

"Oh I thought you had one since there are two drinks here but only you at the table."

"I'm here with a friend."

"Ah I see. So what are you supposed to be?" He said drawing out the s a little to long.

"A priestess from the feudal era. Well a skimpier version I guess."

" I like it. It looks good on you. I'm guessing you don't have a boyfriend."

"Thanks and no I don't." Kagome wasn't sure where he was going with this but she kept her guard up and casually rested one hand on her bow in front of her.

"Well then," Ichigo began as he moved over to the seat next to her. "I guess I have no one to compete with then." Ichigo leaned forward and kissed Kagome before she could even react to it. She was going to push him away but found herself leaning more into the kiss she lifted her hand off of her bow and drew it towards his face. Before she reached it he pulled away. They two just started at each other wide eyed. They felt something usual. Something they hadn't felt when kissing someone else.

'_Is that what people consider feeling a spark?'_ Kagome asked herself. _'It sure felt like it.'_

Without uttering a word Ichigo left the table and went upstairs to the VIP room. He was hoping Hisako wouldn't be there and to his benefit she wasn't. Ichigo plumped down onto the couch and ran his fingers over his lips. He couldn't believe the jolt he felt when he kissed her. Someone he didn't even know. He had never felt that when kissing Rukia or Hisako. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't see Hisako walk in and sit beside him.

"What's wrong Ichigo?" she asked worriedly.

"What?' Ichigo asked confused. He turned and saw Hisako, which cleared his head immediately. "Oh nothing. I've just been waiting for you to come back up here so I could kiss you again."

"Well then I wont keep you waiting any longer." Hisako positioned herself on Ichigo's lap and started kissing him slowly and then steadily getting faster. All thoughts Ichigo was having about the kiss with the mystery girl were about to vanish until his cell phone vibrated.

Quickly Ichigo got it out much to Hisako's disappointment. Ichigo looked at it and saw that it wasn't a text message her received but a flashing yellow dot on a map. _'A hollow!' _ He thought to himself. He put the phone back in his pocket and gently took Hisako off his lap. "I'm sorry, but there's a family emergency. I have to get to the clinic right away!" he lied easily.

"Oh no! Is everything okay?" asked Hisako genuinely concerned.

"I don't know. I'll find out as soon as I get there. I'm sorry I have to leave," he said quickly as he got up.

"I'll come with you!"

"No you stay here. Enjoy the party. I'll call you later tonight when everything's okay."

"Alright." Hisako unwillingly agreed.

Ichigo ran out of the VIP room, down the stairs, out of the building, and to a nearby ally on the opposite side of all the people lining up. He took out his soul reaper badge and left his body against a dumpster. With his Zanpaktou strapped to his back Ichigo ran to where the hollow was.

0.o

"Ready to dance yet?" asked Rangiku when she came back from a stint on the dance floor. Kagome was still unwilling to leave her comfort zone and dance even though she'd had a couple of drinks.

Kagome looked at Rangiku wide-eyed. "You're not going to believe what just happened to me." Kagome said still in disbelief.

"What? Are you okay," Rangiku sat down quickly ready to hear any news good or bad.

"I'm fine. This guy came over here and started talking to me. Before I knew it he was kissing me. When he kissed me I felt something I'd never felt before."

Rangiku looked at Kagome questionably. "What did you feel and exactly where did you feel it."

"It felt like a spark. A jolt of electricity went through my whole body. I've never felt that with anyone before."

Rangiku let out a sigh of relief. "Oh that's all. Do you know his name?"

"No he didn't say. He ran off before I could ask. He seemed as shocked as I was."

"All you did was sit here and you managed to have a make out session with a stranger."

"It was just one kiss. I guess I really have been missing out." Both girls started laughing but Rangiku's was cut short. She pulled a cell phone out from her right breast. She only looked for a second before jumping up out of her chair.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked.

"A hollow. It's close by too. I have to go take care of it. I don't think there's anyone else in this area who can."

"I want to come too," said Kagome eagerly. She grabbed her bow and quiver and strapped it to her back.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh come on. I've been dying to see if I can kill a hollow with my bow and arrow." Kagome pleaded. Kagome broke out her pouty face and Rangiku quickly relented.

"Fine. I don't have to time to argue with you. Let's go." Rangiku changed into her soul reaper form by swallowing a pill, which she pulled out of her left breast. It came in a small pez dispenser. Kagome wondered how Rangiku could keep something like that in her skimpy costume, but I guess anything's possible when you make your own. The mod soul left in Rangiku's body took over and soul reaper Rangiku and Kagome left club Air and ran towards the hollow.

0.o

When they got to the hollow someone else was already in mid battle with it. Rangiku knew who it was before they got there. She could tell by his spiritual pressure but she kept the information to herself. Kagome didn't need to know until the last minute. Ichigo seemed to be having some difficulty trying to defeat the hollow so she immediately joined in. Kagome couldn't hear them, but she could tell the two soul reapers were talking to each other. She couldn't see the other person very well, but at one point he turned and she saw the skeleton face paint. She then realized he was the guy who kissed her. It had to be him. She didn't see anyone else in that costume and doubted some random person would've done the face the same way. Maybe now she could learn his name. Well after the battle of course.

The fight seemed to be getting pretty rough. Neither one of the soul reapers could get close enough to him. _'Must be a high ranking Hollow'_ Kagome thought to herself. She wasn't sure if that was the correct way to say it, but she at least understood this wasn't a mere hollow. It was something much more. The battle was getting more and more difficult. Rangiku and the other soul reaper was getting tired. Without really thinking Kagome grabbed her bow off her back and took out an arrow. She carefully aimed and released an arrow, which glowed with spirit. It struck the hollow in the head and it disappeared into tiny pieces. Kagome dropped down to her knees and breathed heavily. She hadn't done that in a while and was honestly just a little freaked out.

Rangiku and Ichigo ran over to Kagome to see if she was all right. When Ichigo reached her he pulled the covering off his head exposing his orange hair. When she looked up he saw that the girl in front of him was the girl he kissed in the club. He was in disbelief and clearly so was she.

"Ichigo?" she asked uncertain.

"Yeah. How do you know my name?" He asked just as confused. The girl took off her mask and looked straight at him. Ichigo's eyes went wide and he stepped back in shock.

"Kagome!" he yelled. "What are you doing here? How did you kill that hollow?"

"You're a soul reaper!" she yelled as well. "Rangiku did you know all this time?" Kagome looked at Rangiku who looked like a deer in headlights. She was terrified of what was about to happen. She laughed nervously and put her hand behind her head rubbing it.

"Well…yeah I did." she admitted.

"Wait. You two know each other?" Ichigo asked even more surprised.

"We're best friends. Well I thought we were, but right now I'm not to sure." Kagome got up and started to walk away from both of them.


	15. Chapter 13

**A/N: So this isn't a new chapter, but after reading it over I fixed some mistakes. I will be working on the next chapter tonight so expect in the next few days or so. Use this as a refresher.**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Kagome took a bus back to her apartment. When she got there she quickly walked to her to room grabbed a bag and started filling it with a bunch of clothes and a few things she needed. When done she grabbed the bag, her backpack, purse, and keys. She walked out of the apartment successfully not running into Toshiro at all. At this point Kagome was in a trance. By the time she got of it she found herself at the Higurashi Shrine where she grew up. She hadn't been here since the end of summer. Hurriedly Kagome grabbed her bags and walked up the steps until she reached the front door. Not able to open the door she knocked.

With it being late it took a few knocks and minutes for someone to get to the door. When it opened Kagome saw her mother in a robe and with a surprised look on her face.

"Kagome? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised and confused. Kagome dropped her stuff and fell into her mother's arms sobbing.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"Oh mom." she sobbed.

"Lets get inside. I'll make you some tea and we can talk." Kagome wiped the tears from her eyes and carried her stuff into the house. In the dinning room she sat down and held back her tears as she waited from her mother to come in with the tea.

"Now tell me what's happened." said Kagome's mom as she set the fresh cups of tea on the table.

"I've been lied to all semester by my best friend." she said solemnly.

"I see. What did she lie about?"

"Do you remember me telling you about my partner in the my American Pop Culture class?" Kagome's mother nodded in affirmation. "Well apparently she's known him this whole time and she didn't tell me. She just pretended she didn't know him. I don't understand why she would lie to my face like that. I thought we were best friends, sisters even."

"I'm sure she has a good reason why. Have you given her a chance to tell you?"

"No I haven't." Kagome sipped her tea before going on. "I just left her and Ichigo standing there. I was just so mad. What's worse is Ichigo kissed me not even ten minutes before and he didn't even know it was me. I had a mask on. I thought he liked me, but he's been acting weird lately and then he just hits on a seemingly random girl at a party. I'm just so confused. I don't know what to think anymore. I'm not even sure if I'm over Sesshomaru yet." Kagome's mother contemplated a bit before speaking.

"Was their drinking at this party?" she asked hesitantly. Despite Kagome being of age her mother still had a hard time not seeing as her little girl.

"Yes there was. We were at club Air. Practically everyone there was drunk."

"Maybe that's why Ichigo hit on you so easily. Alcohol does have a way of making people do that."

"Maybe. I don't know. It's just…I felt something when he kissed me. I never felt anything like it when I kissed Inuyasha or Sesshomaru. It was like a spark or something. I know he felt it too. When he pulled away he looked as surprised as I was. I don't know what to do."

"Did Ichigo know you and Rangiku are friends?"

"I don't think so. I never mentioned her by name."

"Well it seems Ichigo wasn't aware of your friendship so you know he didn't lie to you about it."

"True. I just don't know if he likes me. I'm more hurt about Rangiku than anything with Ichigo."

"I'm sure she had a good reason. Talk to her and find out. The reason might be a good one."

"I hope so. I don't want to lose her because of this."

"You wont sweetie. Rangiku's a very loyal person. She'll do anything to keep your friendship."

"I guess you're right. Thanks Mom. You're the best." Kagome leaned over and gave her mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I think I'm going to go upstairs to my room and go to sleep. Is it okay if I stay here for a couple of days?"

"Of course you can. Stay as long as you like. Sota and Grandpa will be glad to see you when you get up." Kagome's mother caressed her daughter's cheek and smiled sweetly. She kissed her on the forehead and told her she loved her.

"I love you too, Mom." Kagome got up and took her stuff up to her room. She changed out of her costume and into some pajama's, turned her phone off and went to sleep.

0.o

Rangiku paced her living room up and down checking her phone every few seconds. She had tried calling and texting Kagome since the night before but had not received an answer back. When she got home last night she had hoped to find Kagome in her room, but she was nowhere to be found and neither was her book bag and some clothes. Toshiro had no idea where she was either. He was asleep when she had come home and got her stuff.

"I hope she's okay. Where do you think she could've gone?" Rangiku asked Toshiro worriedly. He sat on the couch watching his girlfriend pace back and forth. He wasn't sure what he should be doing but he couldn't seem to get her to stop pacing.

"I don't know where she could've gone. I don't know her well enough. Maybe she went back home?" he suggested.

"Home? Home is here." Rangiku said defiantly.

"No I mean her home. The home where she grew up."

"Oh. I guess she could've. I pretty sure her mom lives somewhere in Tokyo."

"See. She's probably there calming down. Just give her some time. I'm sure she'll come back or call when she's ready."

"I know. I just feel so horrible. You didn't see the hurt in her eyes. What if she never forgives me?"

"Rangiku. She will forgive you. She loves you too much. She'll understand. Come here." Rangiku went over and sat on the couch next to Toshiro. He took her into his arms and held her as best he could. Rangiku burst into tears and held onto to him tightly.

0.o

"Come on. Pick up. Pick up." Ichigo muttered to himself in his room. For hours he had been trying to reach her, but so far nothing. He hadn't even talked to Hisako. How could he after last night? He kissed another girl while he was out with her. Luckily for him he could use his family emergency as an excuse. "Still no answer. Damn it!" Ichigo threw his phone on the floor in frustration. Since it rang when he called he knew her phone was on she just wasn't answering.

Ichigo crashed onto his desk chair and put his head in his hands out of frustration. He didn't know what to do. It wasn't his fault Rangiku lied to her. So he didn't feel bad about that necessarily. He did however feel bad about the kiss. He thought he was kissing a stranger, which made him feel bad in general because he was Hisako's date. The worst part about it was the spark he felt. He didn't feel that when kissed Hisako, or Rukia for that matter.

"What am I going to do?" he groaned

0.o

Kagome woke up with a start when her bedroom door suddenly busted open.

"Grandpa she's really here! It is Kagome!" said the young man standing in Kagome's doorway, a few seconds later a shorter much older man stood next to him.

Drowsily Kagome looked at the two men. "Sota? Grandpa? Is that you guys?"

"What you already don't remember us? Are you sure this is Kagome?" asked Grandpa with suspicion coloring his voice.

"Of course it is. She's just tired is all," said Sota confidently.

Finally free of her drowsiness Kagome hopped out of bed and ran over and gave Sota and Grandpa hugs. "I've missed you guys. Sota you just keep getting taller every time I see you. Grandpa you look as healthy as ever." Kagome said happily.

"So what are you doing her sis?" asked her younger brother.

"Oh um I had a fight with Rangiku and came over here to calm down."

"Is everything okay?" asked Grandpa?

"It will be."

"In any case I'm glad you're home. Come on, Mom's got breakfast ready." The three walked down stairs and sat around the table. Kagome happily caught up with everything going on around the Shrine. She didn't realize how much she missed it here. She mentally made a note to come home and visit more often, especially since Grandpa was getting older and Sota would be going to college in a few years. After breakfast Kagome broke the news that she had to go and study for her midterm the next day and asked not to be disturbed. Everyone understood and left her alone.

When Kagome made it up to her room she turned her phone on to check her messages. For a good minute her phone rang alerting her of text messages and missed calls. She had nearly fifty in all from both Rangiku and Ichigo. As she held it in her hand checking them all it began to ring and Ichigo's number popped up. Kagome just stared at it not ready to face the problem. Finally it went to voicemail and Kagome breathed a sigh of relief. After a couple of more minutes of checking her phone she put it on silent and started studying.

0.o

Several hours had passed before Kagome decided to call it a night from studying. She checked her phone to find she had several more missed calls and messages. After checking them she decided to at least let them know she was okay. First she texted Rangiku.

**I'm staying at my mothers for a few days. I'm fine and we'll talk when I get back. Just focus on your midterm and don't worry about me. –Kagome**

Next she texted Ichigo.

**I'm fine. Just focus on the midterm tomorrow. I'll be there but I don't want to talk to you yet so please just let me be. I just need a few days. –Kagome**

It only took a minute for Kagome to receive a reply from both her friends.

**I understand. I'm glad you're somewhere safe. It's just like you to worry about a midterm. At least I know you're okay. I'll see you when you get home. –Rangiku**

**Oh okay. I guess I can do that. I'll see you tomorrow then. Good to know you're okay though. –Ichigo**

Kagome set her phone on her desk and decided to hang out with her family for a bit before going to bed.

0.o

Come Monday after noon Kagome took a deep breath before entering the classroom. She wasn't ready to see Ichigo, but she knew she'd had to. When she walked in she noticed no one was sitting in the seat next to her where he usually sat. She looked around and saw his orange hair in a seat in the back. _'I guess he didn't want to bother me by sitting by me. Good to know he listens.'_

Kagome sat down in her seat and mentally prepared herself for the exam. When it was over she gathered her stuff and walked out of the room without looking back to see if he was going to come and talk to her. She didn't want to take that chance, so she hopped on a bus back to her shrine to spend some more much needed family time.

As she was walking to the house she looked over and saw the building that held the Bone Eaters Well. Suddenly intrigued she walked over and went inside. It was the same as when she left it. The well was covered up again and looked to be undisturbed. She walked down the steps and ran her hand across the wood covering it. Hundreds of memories flooded her mind. She wondered how Miroku and Sango were, if they had gotten together and had any kids, if they missed her or resented her. She wondered if she could go back and visit them. In order to keep demons at bay Kagome brought the Shikon Jewel with her to the modern era. At that moment she was tempted to go get it and see if she could pass through the well again, but she thought better of it. She wasn't ready to find out. She didn't want to go there sad and ruin their happiness. She wanted to go there happy and able to share in their happiness. So she exited the building and went inside to her house.

0.o

The few days Kagome meant to stay turned into a week and finally that Sunday night she went home. She had managed to avoid Ichigo in class and neither him nor Rangiku tried to talk to her. She was glad they listened. She had thought everything through and was ready to listen to them. She walked into her apartment slowly not sure if anyone was in the living room or not. No one was. She set her stuff next to the door and shut it louder than when she opened it. She didn't even have to call out. A second after she closed the door Rangiku ran into the living room. When she saw Kagome she stopped and then ran into her arms sobbing. Kagome welcomed her into her arms and started crying too.

"I'm so sorry Kagome. I didn't want to lie to you, but Toshiro and I agreed it was all up to Ichigo. We have rules about these things and we didn't want you to know unless it was necessary. I'm so sorry. I should've told you from the start. I didn't want to hurt you. You looked so hurt though. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me." Rangiku said through tears while she hugged Kagome.

"It's okay. I understand…sort of. I know you didn't want to hurt me and I forgive you. Come on. Lets have a seat on the couch and talk." The two girls went over and sat down. "Now tell me about these rules."

"Well you know that human's aren't supposed to know about Soul Reapers. You're not supposed to know about us, but you're a special case since you have powers of your own. The Soul Society does know about you, but they agreed it's okay as long as you don't get in the way and as long as it's only Toshiro and I you know about. We decided it was up to Ichigo, because he knows about these rules and how careful he needs to be if he gets in a relationship with a human. If you were going to find out it would be because of him and not us. He'd have to face the consequences. I realize now I should've told you from the start. I know you wouldn't have talked to him about it. We could've avoided all of this."

"No you did the right thing. I understand why you did it. I had to do the same thing. I couldn't tell any of my friends about going to the feudal era or about Inuyasha. They barely accepted Sesshomaru because of his tattoos. They wouldn't have been able to handle the truth. I'm not mad anymore."

"You're not?"

"Nope."

"Still friends?" Rangiku asked hopefully.

"Sister's you mean." Kagome smiled. Rangiku smiled back and gave Kagome a huge breathtaking hug.

"So now what do we do?" asked Kagome when she was finally able to catch her breath.

"Well we wait for the Soul Society's decision."

"What decision?" asked Kagome greatly concerned.

"What to do with you. You can destroy hollows with your arrows. The higher ups don't know what to do with it. It's like you're a Quincy, but you're not and you're not a soul reaper, Vizard, or Arrancar. No one knows what you are or how you can do it. You've caused quite a commotion in the Soul Society."

"I have!" Kagome exclaimed very surprised. "When will this decision be made?"

"I don't know, maybe sometime next week. I guess for right now just keep going to school and living normally."

"I guess as normally as a hollow killing priestess can right?"

"Yep. Hey you used to be a demon killing priestess. I guess it's the same thing."

"I suppose. I guess time will tell." Kagome sat back as she tried to take it all in.

"Want to watch a movie and get your mind off it?"

"Yeah a movie. Good idea." Rangiku picked out a movie and the two friends sat back and relaxed forgetting about everything that happened. It was like everything was back to normal again.

0.o

The next afternoon Kagome came into class and sat where she usually sat. She noticed Ichigo hadn't come in yet and decided today was the day to talk to him and get everything figured out. So when he finally walked in the door Kagome made her move.

"Ichigo. Do you want to sit next to me today?" She asked when Ichigo looked at her in shock.

Um…yeah. That'd be great." Ichigo sat his stuff down and sat next to her. "How are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I'm good too." Ichigo said slowly, not sure what to make of it all.

"Do you want to get something to eat after class so we can talk?'

"Yeah that'd be great." Before the conversation could continue Sensei started calling role. After class was over the two went to the cafeteria and got some food.

"So you know about what I am?" asked Ichigo when they sat down.

"Yep. I've known about it for a year and a half or so. I've only known about Rangiku and Toshiro though," answered Kagome.

"I see. How were you able to kill that hollow?"

"Well…" Kagome didn't really know where to start so she started form the beginning. "I used to kill demon's in the feudal era. I'm a reincarnated priestess."

Ichigo just stared at her wide-eyed as it all sank in. "You mean your previous life?"

"Nope…well yeah, but I went back in time and killed them myself."

"How the hell can you do that!" yelled Ichigo a little to loudly.

"Well…." Kagome gathered her thoughts for a moment before telling Ichigo about going to the Feudal Era.

When Kagome finished her story Ichigo stared in disbelief with his jaw open and food on a fork inches from his mouth.

"Ichigo? Are you okay?"

"You can't be serious?" he said when he came out of his trance like state.

"It's true. Why is that so hard to believe? You're a Soul Reaper." defended Kagome adamantly.

"Well yeah, but I didn't go back in time."

"No you just go to the other side and back like it's going to a different country."

"True." he glared playfully. Well it looks like you can kill demons and hollows."

"I can heal too."

"Really?"

"Yep and a bunch of other stuff that I don't really feel like explaining right now. It takes too long."

"Sounds like the Soul Society has a lot to consider in its decision."

"Do you know when that decision will be?"

"Nope. I have a feeling it'll be soon so the higher ups will come here to talk to you."

"What?" Kagome asked dumbfounded.

"I wouldn't put it past them honestly. Don't worry. I'm sure Rangiku will be there with you."

"I hope so. I don't want to do it alone."

"It'll be fine though. I don't think they'll let someone like you go to waste." Kagome and Ichigo finished their food and sat in an awkward silence. They had finished talking about the Soul Society and Kagome's powers for now. Neither one wanted to ask the next question, but someone had to do it.

"So…about that kiss?"


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I know it took me nearly a year to update this. I didn't realize it had been that long. I just lost all inspiration for it and I had no idea where I was going with it. It's kind of coming back to me. I'm sorry if it's not that great. I really am. I'm trying I swear. If you have a suggestions I'll gladly take them into consideration and see if that will help me move this story along a bit. I'm determined to finish it and finish it as well as I can. Sorry for any mistakes, I am horrible at grammar in case you forgot from it taking me so long to upload. Enjoy! :)**

**Chapter Fourteen**

"So…. about that kiss?"

The sentenced lingered in the air as both Kagome and Ichigo stared at one another. The noisy cafeteria slowly drifted away as their thoughts raced.

"So why did you kiss me or kiss who you thought was a stranger?" Kagome finally asked after taking a deep breath. She looked at Ichigo expectantly as she waited for him to stop staring and answer her.

Ichigo looked down momentarily as soon as he realized he was staring. Finally after mulling it over in his mind he came up with an answer. "I thought you were really cute, and I was also very drunk. I wanted to kiss you and I went for it."

"I see." Kagome answered. "Would you have kissed me if you knew it was me?" she asked slowly, not knowing how he'd react to the question.

Ichigo's eyes went wide as Kagome turned her head to give him a moment to process. He wasn't sure if he expected her to ask that, but even if he did he wasn't prepared to answer it. He knew in his mind he liked her and wanted to be with her, but he also knew he liked Hisako and had something good going with her. Still he decided to be honest. The best way to get past this was to just lay it all out on the table. "Since I was drunk yes," he began, "If I wasn't I probably wouldn't have had the balls to do it. Though I am kind of dating someone so either way it was out of line to kiss you in the first place."

Kagome's head turned back toward Ichio's when she heard his answer. She didn't know how to take it. He actually wanted to kiss her, not the stranger he thought she was, but her. _'But he's with someone apparently!'_ she thought to herself before replying.

"Okay so you have wanted to kiss me, but couldn't bring yourself to do it sober?" she asked aloud as she processed it in her head.

"Yes." he said with shaky breath.

"But you're kind of dating someone right now?"

"Yes." Ichigo became more and more nervous. He looked directly at her but found himself clenching and unclenching his fists on the table.

"Did you feel anything when we kissed?" Kagome asked hesitantly. She wanted to know the answer, but she didn't want to know. Would it even matter since he's with someone?

Ichigo took a few seconds before he answered. "No." he lied.

Kagome let out a relieved sigh in her mind. She decided to go with what Ichigo said even if he was actually lying. "Yeah me neither." They both looked at each other and gave a half smile. "I guess we have nothing to worry about then. Friends?"

"Yeah friends." Ichigo decided now wasn't the best time to explore it more. He was with Hisako and they had a project to do. His true feelings would have to be dealt with later.

Ichigo and Kagome finished their food and talked about the project. They decided to do some sort of video showcasing Judy's best points and to make it less boring. After they were done they parted ways.

0.o

A week later Kagome was studying in her room quietly when Rangiku came barging unannounced with a panicked look on her face. Kagome looked up at her concerned. "What's wrong Rangiku?" she asked worriedly.

"You've been summoned to the Soul Society. The Captains want to meet with you before they make their decision."

"What?" Kagome dropped her pen and looked dumbfounded. She couldn't believe they actually wanted her to come to soul society.

"We have to leave now."

0.o

Not too long after Rangiku came into her room Kagome found herself surrounded by the thirteen Captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squad with Rangiku standing beside her for moral support.

The head Captain was the first to speak. "We are aware of your abilities Higurashi-san. We have decided you could be of use to us. You are not the only human to have the ability to kill Hollows with some type of power. However, we are not asking you to help us kill Hollows. You will be more of a stand-by if the situation calls for it. That is of course if you agree. Regardless of your answer we will be keeping an eye on you and will deal with you how we see fit. If you become a threat to us at any point in time I will not hesitate to have you killed. Is that clear?"

Kagome stood scared of out her mind as she processed everything that was said. The main points she gathered was she could be of use if needed, she didn't have to help if she didn't want too, she'd be watched regardless, and last but not least, killed if seen as a threat. That last point stuck with her the most.

"Well?!" asked the Head Captain clearly annoyed at Kagome's lack of a response.

Upon hearing the booming voice of the Head Captain Kagome was brought back to her senses. She looked directly at him and answered. "Yes it's clear Head Captain."

"What is your decision? Will you agree to be our back-up or will you refuse?"

"I will be your back-up." She answered as confidently as she could. She wasn't really sure what she was getting into, but she didn't want them to think she was going to be a threat.

"Very well. We will call upon you if you are needed. In the mean time you are welcome to train in Urahara's shop. We will need you in top condition at all times. You never know when a threat will appear. You may go."

As soon as he finished Rangiku grabbed Kagome's arm and bowed. Kagome did the same before both of them walked out of the room. When they were safely out of sight Kagome sighed in relief. She leaned against the wall and slid down it as she tried to control her shaking body. She couldn't believe she survived that whole ordeal.

"Are you okay?" Rangiku asked worriedly.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little shaken up. I guess this means I can finally start training with my bow and arrow again." Kagome answered smiling up at Rangiku. They both laughed and Rangiku helped her best friend up off the floor.

"I guess so. It's going to be brutal. We don't know what you can really do and I guarantee you Urahara is going to do everything he can to figure out how you can do everything you can do."

"Who is Urahara?"

"He's a former Captain. He owns a shop in Karakura Town with an underground training area. It's where we all train to keep in fighting shape. He's also a genius and can figure out any solution to any of our problems. He's also a little eccentric, just don't let him get to you."

"Well alright then. Can we go home now?" Kagome asked hopefully. As much as she wanted to explore the Soul Society she really wanted to get back home to where she could breath easier. The spiritual pressure surrounding her was weighing heavily on her chest and making it a little hard to breath.

Rangiku laughed and lead Kagome to a way back home.

0.o

The rest of the month went by quickly for both Ichigo and Kagome. They started seeing a lot more of each other outside of class. They were either working on their project or training at Urahara's. There was very little time when they weren't together. It began to make Kagome wonder about Ichigo's relationship with Hisako. One day while working on their project in the library she decided to ask him about it.

"So how are you and Hisako doing?" Kagome asked as nonchalantly as possible while searching on Youtube for Judy videos.

"Oh, uh we're fine. We mostly just text since I've been so busy with this project and training. I don't understand why Urahara's been making me train so much lately. It's not like we have an impending battle on our hands. Things have been quite since we defeated Aizen."

"It's probably just because I'm just starting out. I'm sure once I get the hang of things you'll have more time to see your girlfriend."

"Yeah I guess. Have you found anything we can use yet?" Ichigo answered casually as he stared at the computer screen while Kagome scrolled through the pages.

"Not yet. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for though. We know she has a powerhouse voice, but what are we trying to convey with that voice."

"Maybe we can show her vulnerability or her passion or strength. She knew how to convey any type of emotion into a song." Kagome turned her head and looked at Ichigo slightly surprised at his suggestion.

'That's actually a really good idea."

"Well don't look so surprised." he laughed. "I have my moments." Ichigo smiled at Kagome and for some reason it made her heart flutter. It could be because they were spending so much more time together and were always sitting so close to each other, but whatever it was Kagome could tell she was slowly falling for him. She silently berated herself for feeling this way once again. She knew nothing would come of it, but still, she couldn't help how she was feeling.

Before she could think over it further she forced herself back to project mode. They only had one more week to get it done before presenting it in front of the class. They had everything planned out into a presentation; they just needed the videos. The hard part was choosing which ones to use. Judy had hundreds of songs in her repertoire.

"So going with her vulnerability why don't we do, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" from Ziegfield Girl? When she sings it looks like she's about to cry." suggested Kagome as she and Ichigo continued to scroll through YouTube page after YouTube page.

"Play it for me and I'll let you know. I haven't heard it before." Kagome played the video for him and Ichigo agreed it would be a great start. "Since this one is from her teens we should do the others ones when she's older. Show how her voice matured and how more connected she became with the songs as she life experience."

"Sounds good to me. So we have vulnerability, so lets do passion next. I think she shows a lot of passion in "Ole Man River" from her TV show. It also shows how she connects with the song. The camera angle and the look of uncertainty and fear in that song gets me every time. Since it's later in her life maybe we can use that one last."

"I've seen that one. I know what you mean. They she sings that song is mesmerizing. Okay so next is strength. What would be good for that or whatever else we're trying to convey?"

"Hm…I don't know. There are so many choices. Maybe, "You'll Never Walk Alone"?"

"Alright lets check it out." Ichigo turned his head back towards the computer after looking at Kagome for a moment. His right hand gently glided along the back of her chair and grazed her back slightly. Kagome shivered at the brief touch. She hoped he didn't notice. She tried her best to keep her composure as she looked for the video. Once she found it she clicked and the first one. They both sat in silence completely transfixed on what they were watching. It wasn't a performance of her singing; it was just pictures and scenes from her movies or TV show. It went perfectly with the song and after it ended they were both awe struck. "Wow…"

"Yeah…I think this might be my go to song when I feel like the world is crumbling around me. It just makes me feel so at peace with everything."

"No kidding. I think we should end with that one instead. Leave everyone feeling a little inspired and uplifted."

"You're full of great ideas Ichigo. Totally makes up for that time when you didn't do shit." Kagome lightly chuckled to herself. Ichigo turned to her with mock hurt adorning his face.

"I am appalled at you Kagome. We both know this project would be nowhere without me."

"Cocky much?"

"Nah just confident." Ichigo winked at Kagome and for a moment she swore her heart stopped. She needed to get away from him before it was all too much for her to handle. She wasn't sure where all this was coming from, but she could tell where it was going and neither one of them were ready for that.

"Well um…"Kagome gulped and turned away to look at her school things on the table next to her. "I think that's enough for today. We can um…do some um-final touches tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Yeah that sounds great." Ichigo smiled at her as if he knew what he was doing to her. If he did it looked like he was enjoying every minute of it.

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow." Kagome quickly grabbed her things and left the library as quickly as possible after giving Ichigo a small smile.

"I can't wait for this to be over. I don't think I can take much more of those looks. I need a break," she said to herself as she walked to her car. When she was seated in the drivers seat she grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and let out a long steady breath. She did this a couple of times before starting the car and headed home to take a much-needed bath and to get some sleep.

0.o

Ichigo watched Kagome walk out of the library, well nearly run out of the library. He had been watching her the whole time when she wasn't looking. He saw ever breath she took and every one she held. He felt her shiver when his hand grazed her back. He noticed when she could and couldn't look him in the eye or when she had trouble thinking because he looked at her a certain way. He enjoyed every minute of it. He wanted to make her weak in the knees and fall into his arms, but he couldn't. He was still with Hisako and he could never get those kinds of reactions out of her. He was happy with her, at least somewhat, but he couldn't ignore how he felt around Kagome and how his heart stopped and skipped beats when she would look at him or smile at him or stutter around him. He loved the way her eyes light up when she talked about the stuff she loved or how excited she got when she hit a difficult target in practice. Everyday he found something new to love about her and couldn't wait until he found the next thing to love. She was slowly taking over his mind and he relished every minute of it. He thought about all of this as he watched her leave. He would've been there all night thinking if his thoughts weren't broken from the sound of his phone. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it to find a text message from Hisako.

**Hisako: **_Are you coming over tonight or is it going to be another late night?"_

**Ichigo: **_Yeah I'll be over soon. We just finished for the night. _

**Hisako: **_Great! Can't wait to see you! ;)_

Ichigo decided to not reply to the last text. Instead he grabbed his stuff and headed over to her apartment. It didn't take him long to get there. When he arrived Hisako had some dinner waiting for him and handed him a beer.

"I wasn't sure if you'd eaten or not but I heated some of what I had for dinner. How's the project coming?"

"We didn't eat so this great. The projects going really well, we'll be done with it in a few days. We're totally going to get an A." Ichigo said proudly as he took a sip of his beer before taking a bite of his food.

"So after this semester is over you wont be seeing Kagome anymore right?" Hisako asked cautiously.

"Um, I don't know. I wouldn't mind seeing her some more. She's become a good friend." Ichigo answered truthfully, but a little taken-aback.

"Oh. Well don't spend too much time with her? I want to be able to have to my self." Hisako walked behind Ichigo's chair and glided her hand across his chest. She leaned down next to him and whispered into his ear. Normally Ichigo would be turned on, but he didn't like Hisako basically saying he couldn't hang out with Kagome. So he leaned forward in his chair and continued to eat. Hopefully letting Hisako know he wasn't in the mood.

She was a little hurt when Ichigo didn't give in like he usually does. She knew it was because she mentioned Kagome, but she didn't want to believe it. She saw the way he looked when he talked about her. She hadn't seen him look her that way since they started dating. She wanted him to look at her that way, but she didn't know how to make that happen. She didn't understand what Kagome had that she didn't. She was hotter than Kagome, she was richer, and older, and sexier. She didn't know what else she could do. They only thing she could think of were taking him away for a while. Maybe if she got him away from her for a while she could remind Ichigo of what she had to offer. So she decided then and there she and Ichigo were going on a skiing vacation during winter break. There was no way he could say no to that. So she let him keep eating undisturbed. After he was done they watched some TV before going to bed. She figured the best time to ask him would be after the project is over and he had a little more time away from his precious Kagome.

**A/N: So l highly recommend looking up these songs. Judy does amazing in all of them. I hope you guys liked the chapter. I know the soul society part probably sucked, but I haven't watched Bleach in a long time since I'm usually working when it's on and when I'm not it's some filler episode I have no interest in, so my Bleach knowledge is seriously lacking right now and I can't accurately represent The Soul Society. So my apologies. I will try to have the next chapter up in a more timely manner. Just bare with me please. :)**


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